The biggest news off the Hill in Arkansas is that the head football coach, Sam Pittman, has been released by the University of Arkansas. That is significant. Tensions had been mounting over the past couple of years as the football team did not seem to be making much forward progress. Losing twice by less than one score this season and then getting blown out by the Fighting Irish was apparently the final straw. It got me thinking about times when youth pastors and churches go their separate ways. We are all familiar with a youth pastor who has been asked to resign or was simply fired. No one wants to be in that position. Our desire and goal should be long-term ministry. That is usually the best scenario for both the church and your students. And, let’s be honest, there isn’t a multi-million dollar buy-out waiting for us as youth pastors. We should want to keep our jobs because they are more than jobs. They are opportunities to live out the calling that God has placed on our lives.
If we want to stay at our churches long enough to unpack and see students navigate the church’s student ministry, what can we do to help? What are some things that we should be working on in our own lives? There will be times when a church will not connect with a minister, but that should be the exception. Let’s examine a few things that will help us stay around:
• We need to communicate well. We could spend days on this point, but let’s look at three primary areas. First, what does the church consider as your area of ministry? I have heard of more than one youth guy who has gone to a church expecting to work with 6th through 12th graders, only to find out that wasn’t what the church meant by youth. They essentially viewed youth as from the cradle through college. That is a big difference in focus. Be sure to ask questions as you interview and continue to ask them as you transition onto the field. Second, talk with your lead pastor. As the youth person at your church, you will be reporting to someone. Talk to them about ministry focus. What are they looking for? What is the church looking for? Where do you need to place emphasis in your ministry time? Is it about the church kids, or is the focus on students in the community? Third, communicate with the parents. Let them know what you are teaching and what you are focusing on. It is a rare thing to overcommunicate with parents. They want to know what is happening with their students.
• We need to spend time in the Word. Personal spiritual growth is vital as we work with young people. We need to spend time reading and praying. We must seek and seize opportunities to deepen our understanding of God’s Word. We can fall into the trap of only spending time in the Word for message prep. That is a mistake. We teach out of the overflow. Take a moment to reflect on your life and identify what is holding you back in this area. Be ruthless as you eliminate those things.
• We need to avoid laziness. After hearing it for years from Donny Parrish, I started telling students, “Don’t be stupid!” It covers a variety of ills. As I think about student ministry workers, my words are similar, but different: “Don’t be lazy.” Our ministries give us the latitude to be lazy if we want. Some resources can even help us avoid the work of message prep. We walk very solitary paths in ministry, and if we are not careful, we can fall into the trap of laziness and doing just enough to get by.
Will these things ensure that you will never be fired? No. Sometimes churches just don’t like us, and we shouldn’t have gone there in the first place. However, if we were to take a few minutes regularly for self-evaluation, we could all have longer ministries where God has placed us. No one is calling for us to win an SEC or National Championship. They are asking us to be faithful and loving as we work with the students in our ministry settings.
How long have you been at your current ministry setting? If it is over five years, what would you say has helped make that happen? Join the conversation at facebook.com/groups/StudentMinistryMattersCommunity.
