Try and remember why you first started leading in your ministry. Can you remember the excitement of connecting with people, of working as part of a team and celebrating every significant conversation as well as conversion? Depending on how long ago that was, you will likely have moved on from that place and sometimes may find yourself questioning why you are still in leadership. It is not that God wants you to do anything else it’s just that, well, your passion for ministry has diminished.
This is such a common experience. Ministry can be hard work! A year in youth ministry feels like forever. We find we give out more than we receive and we start to feel like we are running on empty, running dry.
Here are 10 ways to make sure you keep your passion for ministry high:
1. Be stretched out of your comfort zone
When we start out in leadership everything is new, everything is a challenge. After a couple of years, it is easy to find ourselves doing ‘the same old’ and not be stretched. What was once a challenge is now second nature. If we don’t keep challenging ourselves, our enthusiasm can be diminished. What can you do to keep pushing yourself to try new things? When we step outside of our current abilities, we keep ourselves dependent on God and we give him opportunity to grow us.
2. Diary in activity which keeps you motivated
Most of us didn’t go into youth ministry because of the rotas. Yet, as the ministry grows, we can find ourselves doing more admin than ministry. If you love playing games with teenagers, diary in times to simply hang out. If you like meeting up one to one, make this a priority in your diary. Whatever it is that keeps you motivated, that fans your heart for young people, make sure it gets a proper place in your diary.
3. Keep sharing the gospel
When was the last time you shared the gospel with anyone? If we don’t do this regularly, our passion will dwindle. It is seeing people coming to faith that inspires us the most. Not only that, but by speaking the gospel regularly, it keeps reminding us of why we do what we do. Look for ways to talk to people about Jesus and don’t miss any opportunities.
4. Read as much as you can
There’s no getting away from the fact that leaders are readers. We need to be constantly investing in ourselves and learning new things. Keep a leadership book always on the go and don’t let it take you more than a month to read it! That’s why we have the Thrive book group, to keep leaders reading. Your young people will benefit from you growing and it will be a great lifelong example to set.
5. Talk the stories
Too often youth work goes on largely unseen by the rest of the church so we can quickly feel isolated. Don’t let this happen. Look for every opportunity to share stories of what God is doing in the youth group. Talk about people stepping out for God, good discussions, holy moments. It will encourage the church and raise your passion for what God is doing.
6. Build community
Don’t try to do this alone. Gather likeminded people around you so you can pray together, cheer each other on, learn together, take risks together. When we are with others who all want to see young people grow in faith, our passion will remain fuelled. When we try to do it all ourselves, we can start to question why we bother. Build a community who will commit to each other and to the young people. The adventure will be wild!
7. Retreat often
Invest in your relationship with God. Daily, weekly, monthly, termly, annually. Look to develop different ways to meet with him in those different timescales. We need to growing in our spiritual disciplines, growing in hearing his voice, taking time out to allow him to examine us fully, so that we may become leaders who shine of his love. Don’t get caught in the lie of doing work for him instead of being with him.
8. Keep the fun in life
Youth leaders are fun people to be around! Keep it that way. If life becomes too serious, our passion dwindles. We know it is not right to be low or depressed regularly. Spend time with people who make you laugh. Keep up social activities which enable you to have fun and enjoy life. It may seem like this is frivolous but actually it is essential to being passionate.
9. Try new things
Whether it is starting a new discipleship course, meeting up with parents or creating a youth service, keep doing new things. It will prevent the ministry from becoming repetitious and you from becoming stale. If we don’t try new things, it is harder to ever fail. If we never fail, we are probably not pushing ourselves hard enough.
10. Keep growing
Living things either grow or die. We are the same. If we are not growing, we will start to wither. Invest in things that keep you growing. Book in to attend conferences. Find people who can inspire you. Invest in a mentor who can help you to grow smartly.
If we keep check on these ten ideas, we will see our passion restored and God will give us more hope for the future and we will start to see new ideas emerging about what the future might look like.
Which of these ideas do you need to specifically spend time on at the moment? Find time to discuss it with someone you trust. You can also leave comments or questions in the space below.
You may also find these previous blog posts useful:-
The need to retreat to advance
Ten ways to enable a youth minister to thrive