Staff, students and
parents will all endear themselves to you much more readily if you can become
comfortable with admitting failure. Your job does not demand perfection and you
can not deliver it. People love to pull a perfectionist down, but they tend
to root for the one they can relate to . . .
the flawed, imperfect, in need of forgiveness type. I’m not talking
about self-depreciation or washing your ministry laundry in front of the
parents or leadership. I am referring to the benefit in finding greater comfort
with saying – I need your help, I may have rushed that a bit, I wish I had done
that differently, and that did not turn out as I envisioned it. Really it is about the admitting and acceptance of the fact
that you have nothing to offer if Christ is not your benefactor of grace and
strength.
Remember . .
.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do
not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled
and do not be afraid.” John 14:27
“Humble yourselves,
therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5: 6,7
Prayer and daily alone time
with the Father are the only hope you have to survive and thrive beyond the
beginner stage (three years) of Student Ministry. And when you make it to that
milestone, you will realize that prayer, daily alone time and volunteer
leadership are the only way you will survive beyond the veteran status of five
years. Becoming an equipper of the saints for the work of the ministry is the
only hope you have in passing the seven year (considered exceptional tenure)
mark in student ministry. Every young youth minister dreams of making a huge impact and seeing loads of students coming to know Christ as savior. The best gift you can give yourself is alone time with the Father, time in the word, and commitment to developing volunteer leadership.
"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." Ephesians 4:11-16
