The first year of youth ministry is a huge learning experience. Starting out, many youth pastors stay in youth ministry about 18 months. They are just getting started.
The first year in youth ministry provides so many valuable opportunities for growth, development and learning as a leader. This growth is essential for effective ministry in the years ahead.
At the end of my last year of youth ministry, after ministering at a medium-sized church for seven years, I had the blessing and opportunity to hire my replacement. Immediately, I thought of a very qualified youth ministry intern who worked with the ministry the summer before, Matthew Springmann. The position was an interim position, and Matt was a great fit for the job. It has been a year since Matt took the position.
Recently, I had the opportunity to catch up with him at Starbucks with a few students. During our time together, I asked about lessons he learned during the past year. Matt gave the following list of lessons learned. We hope this list of lessons learned in the first year of youth ministry will benefit you in youth ministry and will help you to be more effective more quickly.
15 Lessons Learned in the First Year of Youth Ministry
1. Manage your time wisely for efficiency and good balance.
2. Promoting events is essential for participation.
3. Learning from your mistakes provides opportunity for personal growth and development, which leads to ministry improvement.
4. Listening to student feedback is essential for quality and effective youth ministry.
5. Getting parent involvement can be challenging, but is essential for a healthy youth ministry.
6. Communicating with confidence and authority is fundamental for strength and command of leadership and teaching.
7. Open communication with senior leadership and co-workers is crucial for a healthy youth ministry and healthy working partnerships within the church.
8. Working across generational boundaries and across ministry divisions provides great opportunity for discipleship, mentoring and ministry.
9. Canceling or changing events at the last minute is a bad idea. It is better to go on with events and make yourself available for the one or two students who show up. This is valuable opportunity for ministry.
10. Calendaring and scheduling events is helpful for students and families to keep up with what is going on in the youth ministry and to plan their youth ministry involvement for the year.
11. Know your limitations and be aware that your skill set is different from your predecessor’s.
12. Minister and function out of your own giftedness and personality, understanding that your ministry style will be unique to you.
13. Keep things simple whenever possible. The simpler the better.
14. Work smarter, not harder.
15. Always be willing to learn from others and be flexible.
Robbie Pruitt is a high school Bible teacher in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, where he lives with his wife, Irene. Robbie loves Jesus, youth ministry, the great outdoors, writing poetry and writing about theology, discipleship and leadership. He has been in youth ministry more than 17 years, since volunteering after high school. Robbie graduated from Trinity School for Ministry with a Diploma in Christian Ministry and from Columbia International University with a B.A. in Bible and General Studies and a minor in Youth Ministry. Follow his blogs at RobbiePruitt.Blogspot.com and RobbiePruitt.com.
