I read the other day that the most successful armies are not necessarily the ones with the best generals.
The most important factor is that the soldiers feel part of their regiment and are well cared for by their officers. If they know they matter, they fight more tenaciously because they are committed to the cause. The Bible uses the military image. ‘No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs — he wants to please his commanding officer’ (2 Timothy 2.4).
There are a lot of good foot soldiers in youth ministry. They are people who turn up every week, among their many commitments, and serve faithfully often in quite mundane roles.
With the growth of full-time workers and staff teams, we must never forget the faithful volunteers who are still the backbone of many ministries. How can we help them be more fulfilled amidst all the pressures they experience?
Share the vision
If you know why you turn up each week, you’re much more likely to be motivated to serve. Vision is not something that the senior leader dreams about in his study and occasionally lets the rest of us hear a little snippet of information about. The whole team needs to know what on earth they are doing for heaven’s sake!!
The main leader may have a clear vision about future ministry, but, once agreed, it must become what the whole team is striving for. There are no secret visions. Vision is what drives the whole team.
Respect their time
Many of our volunteers squeeze their youth ministry into very tight schedules. They have business responsibility or family pressures, yet they give up a night a week to do youth ministry. Such people deserve respect, so it is in everybody’s interests if your work is well planned and all your volunteers know when things are happening. There is something of a tradition that if you ‘wing it’ blessing will flow. I don’t rule out that God can surprise us but I’d rather be surprised by God than find out I’m doing a talk with two minutes’ notice.
Finite terms
Some of us may be worried that if we give people the chance to review their position, say, every three years, they will end up with no leaders. Youth ministry is not a life sentence — it is a call from God to serve him and sometimes those periods of service come to an end. You may need to give some of your leaders a break if they have been serving for a number of years. A year for refreshment may be just what they need before returning to the work in the same or, maybe, a different role.
Thank you
It takes under a second to say it, but it pays dividends for weeks. I have heard people say that our reward is in heaven so we don’t need to say ‘thank you’ to anyone. There is plenty in Paul’s writings which encourages brothers and sisters to keep going. When someone has turned up to a youth gathering straight from work, thank them. Send your team a card on their birthdays with personal thanks for what they are doing.
I am sure that although all these things are quite trivial, they have a cumulative effect. They give our volunteers a sense of worth and purpose. I am sure that the troops at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan are some of the best cared for troops the Army has ever known. So look after our most precious resource.
Dave Fenton is the Training Director of Root 66 which runs training courses for youth ministers across the UK.
