1. Connection
Youth staff leave when they don’t have a personal connection to the leader. This is why its so important for us in leadership to minister to the volunteers. We can’t just think of them as worker bees. Not only should we be friends with our volunteers, I think it’s important to help them grow spiritually. They are pouring their lives into students so it makes sense that we should pour our lives into theirs.

2. Misunderstood Mission
Adult volunteers who think their job is to enforce the rules don’t understand the mission of the youth ministry. They think we are not doing our jobs when students are able to “do whatever they want” so they become frustrated they are the only ones enforcing the rules.  Be sure to make the mission of youth ministry clear; train and equip your volunteers to love students, care for their needs and to challenge them to obey God’s word.

3. Serving The Wrong Person
I love to ask volunteer, “who do you serve?” The answer is always interesting. I often hear, “I am here to serve the youth pastor.” I ask that same questions of youth workers and they think the volunteers are there to serve the students. Big disconnect. We have to help our volunteers understand we want them to build relationships with students that will lead to changed lives. We can get frustrated with volunteers when they never talk with students or never ask students any questions. That frustration is obvious and the volunteers think they have done something wrong. So they work harder to serve you and you become more frustrated. Soon we all dislike each other. Be clear with your adults about your expectations. Train them on how to build relationships. When you’re on the same page, your adult volunteers will stay.

Church Leaders
Often time church leadership will be on board with a student leader program; after all who can better understand the need for growing new leaders. They will however be casus about how far the program will go in letting students make decisions. Remember part of their job is to minimize risk and students being in charge don’t exactly scream risk free. When presenting the program to them be complete in the scoop of the program. Detail what decisions students will be making, describe the bounties you intent to put in place to insure safety and clearly explain how the program is based on a mentoring relationship with an adult. Remember when you say “student will be in charge” the adults are envisioning a food fight followed by a small urban riot. Be clear and complete when making your presentation. The benefit of having the church leadership on board will be to create support for the program even during difficult times.

Parents
Helping parents understand the program is very important. Nothing could be better than having parents support for the leadership team and nothing could be worst if they feel felt out of the process. Parents always want to know two things; who is on the team and what is the criteria for getting on the team. When answering these questions be consistent and honest. We sometimes feel like we need to tell parents what they want to hear – be honest; if their son or daughter doesn’t meet the criteria for being on the team tell the parents and layout for them the conditions on which they could be on the team. Also remember to be consistent; if you let a student on the team that doesn’t meet the criteria and you keep others off nothing we ruin your credibility faster and the ramifications could be bigger than you think.

Consider this plan. Call a meeting of the parents and explain them the reasons for having a student leadership team, the program itself and how students will be selected. Before the meeting ask a few parents to serve with you and your volunteer team on a committee that selects the student leaders. The benefit of this will be to have cover in that you are not making this decision alone. This also gives ownership to the parents by being involved in the process. Announce who is on the committee so all the parents understand. Communicate often, let parents know the deadlines for getting applications in, let them know when the team will be announced and let them know how you will tell the students that apply and don’t make the team. I do suggest having a private meeting with students that don’t make the team to let them know why and what they can do to make it next year.I want to encourage you to see parents as your partners in student leadership development. In the twenty plus years I have been doing this I have never been successful outside of a strong relationship with the parents.

Adult Volunteer Leaders
Surprisingly adult volunteers often struggle with student leadership teams because when you talk about students making decisions and taking leadership for events and programs you are usually talking about students taking their positions. As the youth director everybody knows your role but for the adult volunteer their role is leading the small stuff. You know the stuff that you want to now turn over to the student leaders. See the problem – adult leaders often don’t buy-in for this reason.

The answer is to retrain your adults – move them from chaperons to mentors. Let’s be honest; you don’t need van drivers and cooks you need adults that will pour their lives into the lives of students no matter how messy it gets. By helping your volunteers see that their role is to develop deep relationship with students you will give them a vision for the future and their ministry that is powerful and inspiring.

I suggest presenting you ideas about a student leadership team soon after getting church approval and before going to parents. Volunteers will help answer parents’ questions and help identify potential student leaders. Having them understand changes they will have to make early on in the process will insure a smooth transition to the new program.

The key is to communicate. Don’t just share the reasons behind the program once; state it over and over again and to people start saying it back to you. Starting a student leadership team sounds great but remember before you start get the church leaders, parents and adult volunteers on your side. It will make all the difference.

I’ve noticed something that happens to us youth workers around our mid-30′s, or so. We find ourselves unable to naturally relate to teenagers. Most of us have reached a point where we don’t automatically pick up on their references like we did in our 20′s. They mention a fad or a movie and we realize we have no idea what they’re talking about. This happens enough, and it begins to bother us.

We begin to think that means we’re too old. We hear a clock ticking inside of us. We say something like, “I’ve lost my relevance.”

There are other signs, as well . . .

The needle on our fun-meter is not as often moved by the games and the recreation. We think, “I need to move on to more adult things.”

We see our peers “advancing” to become Minister to Adults or Teaching Pastors. We say to ourselves, “I need to move on to real ministry.”

We see our friends leaving the ministry. We say to ourselves, “Is it time for me to quit playing around and get a real job?”

The problem with this scenario is that it comes at the precise time when we are positioned to do some of the most meaningful ministry of our lives (up to this point).

At the exact time when these feelings are banging around in our heads, many of us are just arriving at a point where we can really pour spiritual wisdom into the lives of those we lead. When I was leading students at age 25, if I was being transparent, I led as a peer as much as anything else. The 35 year old me and the 25 year old me have very little in common spiritually speaking. And it’s not just spiritual experience. I’ve lived life! In 10 years I’ve had three children, changed careers, lost a sibling and three grandparents, gone off to war, traveled and ministered around the world, and so on. I bet your story is similar.

In each of these situations, I’ve learned more about God and how He works in this world and in my life. My faith has been tested and stretched and shaped in ways I couldn’t have begun to imagine as a younger man. I bet you’d say the same.

Aren’t we in a better position to lead students in their faith based on our faith-shaping experiences?

I am a more effective discipler in large part because of the wisdom that God has worked in my life through these years.

The same can be said about your ability to lead others.

The same can be said about your ability to listen to others.

The same can be said about your patience, and your ability to work well with people who may be difficult to work with.

And one of the biggest tragedies of people leaving youth ministry at this critical stage in their lives is the wealth of practical knowledge that leaves with them.

It seems each week I encounter a youth worker who is just getting started. Some are just kids, some are moms and dads. I hear them asking me and others for help. Help with strategy. Help with methodology. Help with with their heart and vision. When youth ministers who have been in the game six, or eight, or ten years moves on, they take with them a treasure-trove of practical experience.

As a middle aged youth worker, you are in the best position to be a mentor to younger youth workers. And when you leave because it’s maybe not as “fun” anymore, or because you “feel” out of touch (when the truth is that you simply have to try a little harder), or because you’re envious of your friend who has “moved up” in the ministry world . . . when you walk away because of these things and NOT because of God’s leading, you rob youth and youth workers from the spiritual and practical wisdom that God has birthed in you.

When is a youth worker too old to be effective? Never. And as I’ve stated here, an argument could be made that you’re at your most effective with a little age under your belt.

Thoughts?

Andy Blanks is the co-founder of youthministry360. Andy has worked in youth ministry for 13 years, leading small groups and developing Bible study resources for several organizations. Andy is a volunteer youth leader with his church’s youth group, leading small groups, and speaking and teaching whenever he gets the chance. Andy blogs daily about discipleship at andyblanks.com.

2. Youth workers are leaders
God has called us to youth ministry and placed us in his church. He has also given us everything we need to finish his mission in that church. I believe each youth worker can have confidence that God is by his or her side. With that confidence we should lead students, adult volunteers, parents and church leaders in the completion of God’s work.

3. Adult volunteers are key to youth ministry
The size of a youth ministry is determined by the number of adults that in significant spiritual relationship with students. Butts in seats don’t matter, relationships do. I believe we must spend significant amounts of time and resources equipping and training our adult volunteers.

4. Parents are the primary faith influencers in students’ lives
I believe parents are to take the lead role in the students’ spiritual growth. The youth worker is to come along side the parents to help them and provide resources to assist them in students’ growth. If students don’t have parents who are Christ followers (Or parents who don’t care) then the youth worker takes the lead.

5. Students can lead now
If we continue to treat students like participants they will continue to leave the church after high school and not return. If we allow them to lead they will become owners and will see how their giftedness benefits the body and brings joy to their lives. Students are not the future; they can lead now.

There also needs to be a relationship.  For a student to be a disciple, there has to be a relationship that goes beyond attendance. Every disciple needs a rabbi.  This relationship is key and even more true with an immature student.  Someone needs to walk the road with them and show them the way to Jesus.

Discipleship happens outside of the classroom.  Jesus didn’t teach his disciples in a classroom, instead He chose a path, a hillside, and a sea.  Discipleship happens in a process of living out your faith.

As youth workers, our leadership revolves around leading students so obviously when we think about leadership we think about leading students. But the truth is, we also lead parents, adult volunteers and church leaders. So how do we balance our leadership? Doug shares a few tips on balancing leadership.

Ever notice when students return from a mission trip they always talk about how they were impacted more than the people they went to help? We need to pay attention. Students are telling us that mission trips are more about their growth than their service. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying service is not important. I am saying we need to spend more time focused on their growth through the mission trip than the logistics of service. If you’re focused on logistics, you need to read this book so you can maximize your student’s mission trip experience.