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Dealing With Youth Ministry Burn Out By Jonathan McKee
Does this sound familiar? Here's a cry for help from a youth worker named Dan. I think many of us can relate:
I hear ya Dan! That's always tough. You brought up four different issues. Let's break them down: 1) You're not alone! A ton of youth workers ask the same question you're asking right now and wonder the same thing. Am I cut out for this? Is this too much? Is this impossible? Am I really even making a difference? Know this: 1 Cor. 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. You're making a difference in the lives of youth for eternity. Although the rewards are sometimes lost in the fog . . . don't give up. I'm sure that many of us feel that way at times. But we only have to think of that one story of a kid whose life has been changed forever by Jesus through your ministry. That makes it all worth it. Just last week I saw a kid I led to Christ almost a decade ago. He's going to church, he's about to get married and he's working with youth. Wow! All that exhaustive work was actually worth it. A life was changed . . . and God let me in on the process. 2) You scared me when you wrote 4 to 5 nights out a week. I only say that because I was doing that very thing almost 7 years ago until my wife HAD ENOUGH and put the smack down! You didn't mention if you're married . . . but if you are married, 4 to 5 nights out is TOO much. You need to rework your schedule to change that immediately! "How?" You ask? Glad you asked. I wrote an entire article on that very issue, telling the story of my wife almost walking out, and giving some proactive steps you can take to AVOID that happening by better managing your time: http://www.thesource4ym.com/howdoi/balancedlife.asp 3) Don't put jr. high and senior high together! A 7th grade boy and a 11th grade boy are TOTALLY different and have entirely different issues going on in their lives. Although you can do similar programming with each, I find that the methods or models used to reach these age groups are very different. When I ran both jr. high and sr. high (on separate nights) I actually used the same curriculum for each on a given week. But I tweaked it to fit their age group. I used a lot more activity for jr. high and less "talk" time. My high school kids, however, wanted to talk all night long. Small groups worked great for them. But this brings up a big question. How is a youth worker to run both high school, junior high, Bible studies, events, trips, etc. without getting burned out? Glad you asked. Something I touch on in the above article is delegating. And delegating takes volunteers . . . which brings me to my next point. 4) GET MORE VOLUNTEERS! A good team of volunteers can help you run your ministry so that you will only be out just 2 to 3 nights a week. You should go to your weekly junior high program, your weekly senior high program, and to your monthly events. But volunteers can take up the slack of Bible-studies, small groups, etc. But how do you get volunteers? Glad you asked. Check out the two articles on recruiting and keeping volunteers on my HOW DO I . . .? page: http://www.thesource4ym.com/howdoi I go into greater detail about recruiting volunteers, programming, and planning ahead in your ministry in my book THE TOP 12 RESOURCES YOUTH WORKERS WANT: http://www.thesource4ym.com/book.asp (And since you know I like to give things away free, you can pick it up on my web site right now and get free shipping) I hope that helps. Keep up the good work! Jonathan McKee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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"I'm out 4 to 5
nights a week, I'm practically doing everything myself, I need help . . . I
don't know if I'm even cut out for this!!!"