The Monday Morning Debrief: 3 Ways to Achieve Longevity in Youth Ministry

Last week, Coach K, Head Coach of the Duke Blue Devils NCAA men’s basketball team, became the all-time wins leader in men’s college basketball coaching history.  His 903 wins are the most all-time and there is no reason to believe that he will not win more than a 1000 games.  Until last week, Joe Paterno was the longest tenured Head Coach in NCAA football.  He had been at Penn State for over 60 years as an Assistant Coach and Head Coach.  He has the most wins ever by a Division 1 College football coach.  That record will probably never be broken.

Two men, long tenures, lots of wins.  How does this apply to ministry?

Longevity and youth ministry are not words that go hand and hand.  A few years ago the stat was that the average tenure of a Youth Minister was 18 months.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that that’s less than 2 years!  How can anyone build and develop a program when the longevity isn’t there?  How can students build relationships with leaders only to have them burn out and leave?  When we accept a position as a Youth Director, longevity needs to be the expected, not the rarity.

Easier said than done.  So how do you longevity in youth ministry?  Here are a few thoughts.

Avoid Burnout.  When you are new in town and want to make a great impression when you start, it is easy to over do.  As understandable as that is, do not over-do with what cannot be sustained long term.  People will expect your crazy ideas and long hours to be the norm.  Now, I’m not advocating you to not give it your all to reduce expectations.  Rather, I’m encouraging you to temper what you do and be more realistic in your approach so that you do not over-do and go down faster than the Hindenburg disaster.  Youth Ministry is not a sprint, longevity takes consistency and endurance over a long period of time.

Expect Loses.  About 10 years ago, Penn State had losing season 3 out of 4 years.  That kind of losing had NEVER happened to Paterno during his time at Penn State.  Many people were calling for him to retire and quit.  But he didn’t and ended up producing winners once again.  In the same way, you are going to have some really good times and really bad times.  You ARE going to have “losing seasons”. It is during those bad times people will be calling for your job and demanding for you to be let go. It will be tough, but you can make it through.

Just like in sports, in ministry, you are going to have some loses. It is how you respond to those loses that impact your longevity.  You can make it through by adapting.  Adapt with the changing climate of the youth in your program and the changing culture they are in.  When Paterno was losing, he had to change his tactics to rebuild his program.  Now, he didn’t change his standards or even philosphy of winning.  Penn State still had very high standards and expectations for their players.  However, he adapted in recruiting and made changes to his offensive style.  Similarly, during your losing seasons, your ability to adapt and change to best reach your students will directly affect whether or not you make it through those tough, losing seasons.

Build and Develop Leaders.  Having a team of leaders who you trust and are investing in students is priceless.  That way not all the responsibility falls directly on you and your ability to carry the team.  The more leaders that you can engage and get involved in the overall ministry, the more they are going to be contributing the more the ministry become less about you and more about each other and the students.  Coach K and Joe Paterno didn’t become successful at what they did all by themselves, they had a team of coaches, supporters, players to helped them.  Youth Ministers are not lone rangers.  We need they help of others around us to be successful.

So where are you at?  How are you feeling in ministry right now?  Are you on the way to burn out or longevity?  Are you having set backs or are you having success.  No matter where you are at right now, TAKE A MINUTE right now and process.  Think through how you are doing on burnout areas, dealing with “losing” seasons and your recruitment, training and engaging of leaders.  What is going well and what needs to be improved upon?  Create an action plan of steps you can take now as you move into the new year.

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Experiences?  Post a comment and let the discussion begin so that we can all benefit from it.