I need help!!! All of us who have worked with youth have screamed those three words at one time or another during the course of our ministries. Whether you oversee a few students or a few hundred students in your youth program, none of us can effectively organize our programs or meaningfully minister to our students without the support of a strong ministry team.
Why Do I Need a Ministry Team?
A healthy youth ministry cannot operate in isolation. We need the gifts and abilities of a variety of leaders so we can reach a variety of students effectively. A good ministry team also can help prevent burnout in a youth worker, as well as provide them an atmosphere of support that lets them know they are not in this alone.
Ministry Team vs. Volunteers
Some of you may be saying, “I already have volunteers. Why do I need a ministry team?” There is a big difference between recruiting volunteers who will work in your ministry and growing a ministry team. Simply put, that difference is ownership. Volunteers are people we recruit to perform a specific task that is assigned by someone else. A ministry team is a group of people who are responsible with discerning and implementing the vision and programs of a youth program.
Brick by Brick
Building a ministry team takes time and will not happen overnight. Choose small goals each year to shift ownership to your team. If you are currently a Lone Ranger-type of youth leader, then look for two or three other adults to bring alongside you in ministry within the next year. If you already have a dedicated group of youth leaders, then begin to identify areas where you can give them more ownership of the ministry. Can they organize your next fundraiser or pick out the next youth group study? Why not let one of them lead your next service project? If you can equip your team members to handle these important projects, they will cease to be volunteers who are helping out in your ministry and become leaders who are answering God’s call on their lives to serve in their ministry to students.
Assess & Adjust
The growth of a ministry team is a fluid process. It is important to set out a plan to help us create a strong and effective youth ministry team, but it is just as important to revisit that plan often. Every year, you and your youth ministry team should spend some time assessing their effectiveness and brainstorming about what adjustments need to be made to ensure continued success. This past year, our ministry team made significant changes in its structure after discovering a problem with our meetings. We were spending way too much of our time discussing the logistics of our fundraisers, which left little or no time for other important matters. In response to this, we now have shifted into a sub-committee type format that allows time for us to discuss all the needs of our ministry and encourages greater input from everyone involved. If we never had taken the time to step back and assess our process and format, we never would have stumbled upon a new structure that has served us well.
We all need help in our youth ministries. The development of a youth ministry team can provide more than just a group of helpers, but partners in ministry as you together answer God’s call to proclaim Christ in the lives of students.
