slant33-blog

April 23, 2012 Posted by Mark Oestreicher

Kara Powelll

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This quote, attributed to Albert Einstein, should be plastered over your desk and recited at the start of every one of your leadership meetings.

As we’ve seen in three years of working with churches in our Sticky Faith cohorts, sharp leaders like you pretty quickly realize what needs to change in your ministry. The bigger question is not what needs to change but how we bring about that change. That’s all the more tricky when the changes involved aren’t just for your youth ministry but for your entire church.

Enter the importance of being able to lead up.

Let’s be honest: The average church isn’t usually looking to the youth leader as their trail guide. Sure, we as youth leaders are fun, and we are great at keeping people smiling and laughing during the hike, but we’re not usually the ones out front, blazing the path.

Thanks in large part to the expertise of Dr. Scott Cormode, the Hugh De Pree professor of leadership development at Fuller Seminary, we and the churches in our Sticky Faith cohorts have had a chance to wrestle with the question of How do I lead up? and actually pin down some answers.

The most important guiding principle—the true north of what we’ve learned—has been the power of story. In fact, under the coaching of Scott Cormode, we learned that vision cannot be separated from story, for he defines vision as a “shared story of future hope.” ¹

A shared story. Of future hope. As powerful as research is, stories are more powerful. Stories are more memorable, more personal, and more transformative.

In my own leadership, and as I’ve seen others lead up well, it seems to me that there are two important types of stories to share: those of what God is already doing in your ministry that reflect the trajectory you think God has for you, as well as stories of what you dream for in your church.

So one of the first steps you might want to take in leading up is to identify stories, maybe even working with a team of other leaders to think about which stories are the most powerful. Develop a few ministry values or goals as driving forces behind the story, and be as specific as possible in the story details (without betraying any student’s or family’s confidentiality inappropriately).

Once you have developed these stories, you share them. Often. And broadly. For the power of the story lies not in the story itself but in the story as it is shared.

The next time you get to share about your short-term mission trip with your entire church, make sure you share stories that capture the dreams you have for your church. Instead of only sharing about how great it was to see teenagers interact with children at the Guatemalan orphanage, take a few minutes to share about how the parents who went on the trip loved sharing the experience with their own kids.

When you meet with parents who are new to the church, instead of talking about the fun of the annual amusement park weekend, paint a picture for the way this weekend helps adult leaders and kids have a shared experience that helps them feel more connected in future small group discussions.

The next time you’re asked to give an update about Sunday morning youth group at your pastoral team meeting, instead of mentioning your decked-out snack bar, talk about the kid who shared on Sunday about his anger at God because of his parents’ divorce, and how your youth ministry is now walking through these growing doubts with him.

As youth leaders who have journeyed with us have found, you have more power than you think to bring about change through the stories you tell.

*Portions of this blog post were adapted from Sticky Faith, by Kara Powell, Brad Griffin, and Cheryl Crawford (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing, 2011).

^{1. Dr. Scott Cormode, Sticky Faith Summit, February 2010, Pasadena, CA.}

Chris Folmsbee

Leading up may be the most difficult aspect of leading others. Finding a way to this art form, for me personally, has always been experimental, mostly exasperating, and certainly never absolute. Never have I had a boss tell me, “Thanks for leading up to me.” I’ve been thanked for completing tasks, taking a bullet, so to speak, and leading down and across the line—but never for my role in leading up the line. Perhaps I don’t do this well, and that is why.

Rather than tell you about the successes I have had leading up (because I am not sure I have had any), let me tell you what I appreciate in those who lead up to me, as a boss, not necessarily as a better leader. Consider these characteristics of those who effectively influence the way I do my job.

First, people who are effective at leading me are already doing what they are attempting to influence me to do or decide on. If I see in the person what it is they want to see in me, it is much easier to be influenced. I get feedback on my leadership all the time. The feedback I listen to and incorporate into my daily leadership living is feedback that is real in the person giving the feedback and input.

Second, people who are effective at leading me are not afraid to tell me what I am missing. Sometimes those who are managing the details of a project, relating with members of our community, observing the climate of the staff, etc., are much closer to reality. I assume things to be true, and much of the time, the staff experiences reality. If you want to lead up well, speak up. Do so with positivity and generosity, of course. But also speak up with honesty, clarity, and reality.

Third, people who are effective at leading me have the whole community or the entire organization in mind, not just themselves or their interests or to-do lists. Pinpointing the desire for personal gain or advancement in a would-be influencer is easy. If you want to influence me or lead up, you’d have to have the common good of all in mind, not just self.

Fourth, people who are effective at leading me are reliable. If you want to lead me, we have to have a mutual trust for one another. This trust can’t be built on inconsistency, narrow mindedness, or partial truths. Rather, trust has to be built on shared experiences of just the opposite—consistency, open mindedness, and complete honesty. Honesty is the most important of the three listed, in my opinion. You can make mistakes, as we all do. You can miss a deadline, as we all do. You can lose your cool and throw an adult temper tantrum, as we all do. Just don’t tell me you didn’t do what we both know you did.

Finally, people who are effective at leading me hold the respect of their peers. If the people you work with every day on a peer-to-peer level don’t respect you or allow you to influence them, I probably won’t allow you to influence me.

Josh Griffin

Youth workers are in a perpetual state of middle management. You will never “arrive.” In fact, I’d say that if you can’t be a good #2, you wouldn’t be a good youth worker. We have to live in that constant tension of strong leadership and absolute humility. Here are a few fresh thoughts about leading from beneath I’m feeling in my church right now:

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Brooklyn Lindsey

There are two sides to this coin.

There are the young leaders who emerge in our ministry because I have seen the qualities I’m about to discuss and we’ve decided to nurture those students into greater leadership (because most of the time they are already leading when we realize that they are leaders.)

Then there are the young leaders who catch us by surprise. They don’t display the qualities we look for; they may be on the fringe; they may not say a word to anyone. But one day, they bloom and everything you’ve been teaching and modeling clicks for them. A leader emerges.

With that said, I want to be clear that there isn’t a standard list of qualities to look for in young people when considering them for leadership. It’s more like signals you see that tell you that a particular person has potential to lead.

A Few Leadership Signals:

People already are following them. Leadership is influence. If a student has an influential presence around other students (good or bad), then there is potential.

They have a contagious worldview. Check out their Facebook pages or listen to the way they talk to their friends. You can spot leaders when they are able to share their worldviews and get others to subscribe as well. I identify this sort of person in our youth group as the one who is always bringing friends to church. They have a convincing nature—both in convincing their friends to come and convincing their parents to pick them up and bring them too.

They listen to leadership and desire growth. These are the ones I find in discipleship—they are committed to more than just crowd youth ministry. They want to go deeper (not just at church but usually at school and at home too).

A Few Christian Leadership Signals:

You see them meeting needs without being asked. There is a smashed donut on the floor. They pick it up. There’s a new student clinging to the wall. They try to connect.

They are inventive. They try to create ways to reach out to other students all the time. My leaders are always in my face with new ideas (or old ones they think are new). “Let’s plan a dance!” “I want to raise money for clean water in Africa.” “How can we help the senior adults in our church feel loved?” These are telling questions and statements coming from young people. We should spot leaders in them when we hear these questions.

They are consistent. They walk with Christ at home, at school, at church.

They aren’t satisfied. They want a growing faith for themselves, and they also want others to know about the hope they have found. They will look for ways to be a connection for others.

When we see these signals in our students, it’s important to identify their strengths and give them opportunities to use them. So often we pat them on the back and tell them we are proud of them, but we overlook giving them a task, a commission, a place to lead where they are safe to lead. When we overlook them in this way, we miss so much of the field that is ripe for harvest.

A great resource to help in nurturing young leaders is Leaders Are Learners, by Doug Fields. It’s a great way to start the nurturing process if it hasn’t already started.

Claire Smith

God has allowed me to be involved in the nurturing and equipping of young leaders over the years. However, I cannot say I have consciously looked for particular qualities. In my various places of service, young people have attained leadership in different ways. Sometimes it has been by the election of peers to particular offices, at other times by default when no one else was willing to take up the mantle, sometimes by volunteering for particular positions and/or functions, and sometimes just by accompanying a more experienced leader. I have worked with whomever has presented themselves, both formally in training sessions, etc, and informally, by providing guidance, nurture, instruction, and accompanying them along the way.

When I look back and think about the many young people who became leaders with whom I have worked, there are four main qualities and characteristics that stand out: openness, sense of responsibility, creativity, and a desire to grow.

When I speak about openness, I am talking about young people having a desire for God and for God to use them, the ability to listen and take advice, willingness to venture into the unknown, and respect for peers and their opinions.

With responsibility I refer to the ability to carry through decisions and execute plans, the willingness to admit failure but keep trying, and being accountable to those who are more senior.

In identifying creativity, I note bringing something new to the endeavor, thinking things through and proposing ideas and actions that are fresh and help to move the work forward.

A desire to grow in some ways relates back to openness but goes beyond it in that this young person seeks and grabs hold of opportunities for formal and informal training and learning.

All this is undergirded by prayer and confidence in God, which leads to a sense of having been called by God to do a particular task in a particular place. Thus, even when this person appears to be timid, he or she has a strong enough sense of call and self to press onward.

You may notice that I do not pick out people who might identified as assertive, commanding, outgoing, gregarious, or any other qualities along those lines. These are sometimes overrated as qualities intrinsic to leadership. Young people with these qualities may gain the spotlight and gain a following. However, solid leadership is less focused on the individual and more focused on God, God’s will, and God’s people. Solid leadership builds so that there is life and energy in the present and the future regardless of the leader’s presence.

As I mentioned earlier, I do not consciously look for openness, sense of responsibility, creativity, and a desire to grow before I am willing to work with a young leader. I will work with whomever God sends. However, when these qualities and characteristics are present, that young person will emerge as a leader through whom God builds a dynamic present and future.

Chap Clark & Kara E. Powell, Deep Justice in a Broken World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007), 58. Ibid, 93.

Kevin Farmer

One of the privileges I’ve enjoyed in my years of vocational service has been helping to nurture and equip leaders. This is not to suggest I’ve done a particularly great job with this task—only to say that I’ve counted it a great privilege to at least make the attempts to help. While it has been an incredible privilege to help leaders across age, gender, and ethnicity boundaries explore various aspects of leadership development, there has also been at least one aspect of this journey that has caused me significant angst—wrestling with the apparent differences between Jesus’ choices for leaders and the choices of the Apostle Paul.

Certainly we can easily give in to the temptation to oversimplify this subject and just reply, “Is this really an issue, is there really a difference, or are you just trying to make a dollar out of 15 cents?” I think there is a huge difference. In fact, the longer I’ve been in ministry, the more I’m convinced that the differences are not only subtle but also essential for our ability to discern prospective leadership qualities in both teens and adults.

Clearly we don’t know much about most of “the 12” of Jesus; only a select few. And unfortunately, there are not too many of us who usually have much good to say about the 12, especially while they traveled with Christ (most of our praise of the apostles comes after the Day of Pentecost). In fact, in light of Saul’s conversion to the Apostle Paul and his compelling admonition to both Timothy and Titus many years post his conversion, I wonder if even he would have counted any of Jesus’ 12 as leadership worthy. I’m rather certain I wouldn’t have!

It’s fairly easy to look at Paul’s list in his letters to Timothy and Titus and determine what type of qualities we should be looking for in potential leaders. But then you look at the selected 12 of Jesus and think, Why in the heck would he pick these guys out individually? (Not to mention, he picked these guys out to somehow work together.) But this is what he did! And perhaps he did it in large part to show us that we need to pay close attention not just to the rock-solid qualities of leadership Paul appears to value but also to the precarious qualities in which God himself seems to show interest.

Maybe this is, in fact, a blueprint for how we look at those teenagers whom we would never consider for leadership—you know, kinda like that embezzling, sellout, tax-collector Matthew; and those nondescript fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James, and John.

I can honestly say I’ve tried to stop looking at the list—whatever that list is—as a starting point. Instead, I’m trying to develop the habit of asking one question with one follow-up response: Lord, is this a person for whom you have a specific plan of leadership? If so, show me what qualities you see in this person that you want me to help develop or nurture.

This is not to suggest at all that Paul’s list gets thrown out. This is merely to say that Paul’s list becomes an accessory after the fact. It becomes a tool to develop those leaders God has already revealed. But if I start with Paul’s list, I might just miss that piece of coal that God wants to transform into a diamond. And to be certain, I can only help nurture and develop those qualities the Lord has already imparted. That’s how it happened with virtually all the leaders of Scripture, isn’t it? I certainly know that’s how it happened with me!

Kevin Farmer has been working with children, teenagers, college students and their families for more than 15 years. Over these years Kevin has been invited by schools, churches and other ministries across the country to provide teaching and offer inspiration to students of all ages, as well as to the people who serve them.

Kevin currently serves as the Pastor of Equipping and Empowerment at the Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis, MN where he helps create spiritual formation opportunities that grow people of all ages on their life-long journey with God. Because Kevin has a tremendous desire to see people grow into the fullness of all God desires them to be, he also helps people get connected to meaningful opportunities to serve, especially within their area of giftedness.

Kevin received his BA in Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh, his Master of Arts in Christian Education from Bethel Theological Seminary and is ordained in Specialized Ministry in the Evangelical Covenant Church. Originally from Philadelphia, Pastor Kevin now lives in South Minneapolis with his 3 favorite people; his wife Lynn, his son Noah and his daughter Maya.

Mike King

Early in my ministry, I tended to be a person who avoided conflict. I became skilled at navigating away from confrontation. I just wanted everyone to be happy and love one another. Too often, my unwillingness to confront and be decisive in dealing with an issue head on actually added to the problem. I mistakenly assumed that my empathy for others would create space for them to heal, mature, and become more productive.

I regularly made the mistake of believing that doing just enough about the problem to get relief from the pain of symptoms caused by dysfunctional people would somehow be enough. Unfortunately, this assumption does not lead to a healthy environment. Ultimately, I had to decide what kind of leader I would become. I came to a difficult decision. I could not allow my desire to be liked by those I led and/or served keep me from doing the right thing and making tough decisions.

I had some close friends who are no longer close friends because I had to deal with the negativity they brought to our ministry environment. It was no longer enough to deal only with the symptoms. While I loved these individuals, I could not allow them to continue hurting people, dumbing down our culture, and holding us back from moving forward into a hope-filled future. It became increasingly clear to me that I had actually enabled their dysfunction.

Misguided empathy kept me from being responsible and truthful, not only to the disrupters, but to our whole organization, resulting in a toxic environment. My responsibility was to lead decisively. It is not only important to make decisions but to lead well once a decision has been made. What happens after a decision has been made is—most of the time—much more important than the actual decision. Edwin Friedman deals with this so well in his book A Failure of Nerve. His concept of a “non-anxious leader” is essential for leading well.

While I’ve had to learn that my desire for everyone to “just get along” is naïve, I have come to understand that a proper focus on nurturing cultural environments is important. I became obsessed with thinking holistically and systemically about environments and how cultural dynamics impact the way people work, play, create, live, love, interact, and relate to one another.

Being a leader who nurtures a synergistic and thriving environment requires a leader who is willing to take responsibility for his or her own ability to thrive. We can’t lead people well when we don’t take care of our own spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. This focus on ourselves as leaders is not about selfishness. It is a self-differentiation that ultimately enables us to pour ourselves out (kenosis) for others.

Friedman has a chart in A Failure of Nerve that is helpful to remind me that I must lead in such a way that shows I’ve learned from my mistakes.

Poorly Differentiated Leadership… *focuses on pathology. *is obsessed with technique. *works with symptomatic people. *betters the condition. *seeks symptomatic relief. *is concerned to give insight. *is stuck on the treadmill of tying harder *diagnoses others. *is quick to quit difficult situations. *is made anxious by reactivity. *has a reductionist perspective. *sees problems as the cause of anxiety. *adapts toward the weak. *focuses on dysfunctional victims. *creates dependent relationships.

Well-Differentiated Leadership… *focuses on strength. *is concerned for one’s own growth. *works with motivated people. *matures the system. *seeks enduring change. *is concerned to define self (take stands). *is fed up with the treadmill. *looks at one’s own stuckness. *is challenged by difficult situations. *recognizes that reactivity and sabotage are evidence of one’s effectiveness has a universal perspective. *sees problems as the focus of preexisting anxiety. *adapts toward strength. *has a challenging attitude that encourages responsibility. *creates intimate relationships.

So, what are you thinking about as it relates to this post? What mistakes have you learned from?

Edwin H. Friedman, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix. Seabury Books, New York, 2007, pg. 231

Lilly Lewin

I have made a lot of mistakes, and thankfully I’ve learned from them and am still learning from them.

I used to attempt to do everything myself and believed that only I could do certain things because I would do them “right” and they would look right and feel right, etc. Once upon a time it wasn’t okay to make mistakes.

Growing up as a perfectionist, I did my darnedest to prevent making them, striving always to do the best and be the best and working harder and faster to make everything as perfect as possible.

While I knew instinctively that no one is perfect and that we don’t live in a perfect world, I was wired as the oldest, responsible child to set my sights on that perfect goal. The pursuit of the straight As of high school continued as I started my career and had to learn the hard way that straight As aren’t possible all the time in most real-world, real-life settings; and that perfection shouldn’t even be the goal in most things. But, because I’m stubborn and pig headed, it took a lot of burnout and pain before I realized that it’s really only through the mistakes and failures that we all actually learn and grow.

I had to learn to give myself permission to be imperfect and to fail. I had to say out loud and really believe in my heart that getting a B rather than an A was okay. Life doesn’t have to be perfect because nothing is perfect. I had to learn to believe that if Jesus wanted perfection, he came to the wrong planet and the wrong people. I had to give not only myself but my team and my family permission to be imperfect too.

I had to learn to give myself permission to JUST SAY NO. Every gift has a shadow. I’m known as a person of great enthusiasm, creativity, and compassion. But in my enthusiasm to get people connected and to spread the kingdom, I have often over-planned my life and said yes to too many things. In “doing kingdom work,” I too often brought my family along for the ride, without asking or considering whether they felt called to join in. Just because I felt something was a worthwhile ministry opportunity didn’t mean it was right for a seven-year-old, and neither was prepping for Sunday every Saturday instead of taking a Saturday just to hang out.

I had to learn to take time off and practice real Sabbath—and allow others the gift of time off too. I learned that it’ s okay to take care of myself. I can take time to do the things I enjoy outside of my job. Everything doesn’t have to be about work. Everything doesn’t have to be about serving someone else. It’s totally okay to nurture myself. In fact, I cannot pour my cup out to others if my cup is dry or cracked. Because of my tendency to burn out, I began to practice silence. I came to realize that I don’t have to fill my schedule or the schedules of my kids, my family, and my youth group with too many activities. Less really is more! Along with taking time off, I had to learn the importance of planning ahead and not always doing everything so last minute that it fries the people who want to work with me.

I had to learn to give away ministry, to become a curator, not a dictator. Doing everything myself meant that I prevented others from using their gifts. It prevented me from sharing the ministry. A curator enables others to use their gifts and creates opportunities for these gifts to come together to make a beautiful offering. By curating worship and worship gatherings, everyone gets to play; everyone gets to express their gifts to God, not just the paid professionals. And I get to let go and allow the Holy Spirit to work and see amazing things happen that I never could have planned.

I had to learn that everything is practice! After years of stressing out about opportunities and experiences, I had to learn that nothing is pediatric brain surgery. Nothing in my life is as serious as my anxious, perfectionistic brain wants it to be. Every speaking engagement, article, retreat, Bible Study, worship gathering—all practice. By really living into this belief, I can be free to experiment, and I am free to be myself. I can relax. All of these are opportunities to learn. All are opportunities and gifts from God to grow and experience more of him. And again, I don’t have to be perfect. I have to just be open and give my best. And if it’s all practice, I have the freedom to fail.

I had to learn that I need people. By trying to do everything myself, I learned that I really need “partners in crime.” There is no way I can do everything. I need help, and I need to be okay with asking for it. Failing alone is useless because I have no one to process it with. Everyone needs someone to talk to, someone to process with, someone to cry with, and someone to commiserate with us—preferably someone you can say anything to; and this person might be way outside your worshiping community. That person can help us learn and grow through all the practice and all the failings and all the mistakes we will make along the way.

Finally, I have learned to let go and keep my hands open to receive. It has to be okay with me that the ministry is not mine. I have learned that I must hold things lightly. This kingdom stuff belongs to Jesus, and this gift of ministry is on loan, and it’s only for a limited time.

So I’ve learned to be grateful and to open my hands and receive the gift. I’m learning to relax, to rest, to release myself and other people to fail, and I’ve learned to “fail with style,” expecting Jesus to pick me up and dust me off. And I’ll be wiser for it.

Eric Iverson

At the age of 41, I feel qualified to speak on learning from failure. There have been plenty of instances, and I expect a few more. If you’re like me, then Mike Yaconelli's words will resonate: “God expects more failure out of us than we do.” Failure isn’t bad; in fact, if we are really dependent on God, we will be taking risks and not achieving what the world says we should. Failure to God looks different than it looks to us.

I fail because I am working toward my own glory more than I am working to bring glory to God. If we are honest with ourselves, this will be most of our realities. When we go about our daily activities, the motivator is usually making others happy, proud, satisfied, or justified in their signing your check every other week. I only attempt things I can do, not things that require God to show up. When we attempt things that can only happen if God is a part of them, and they are accomplished, then God will get the glory, not me. To be more useful, do more things that require God’s presence to happen.

I fail because I make the wrong decisions. I make the wrong decisions because I don’t listen to the right counsel. Those of us working in ministry wrongly equate serving God with understanding God and his Word. Hearing truth from others or teaching truth from Scripture does not mean we are filled with truth or are hearing truth from the Holy Spirit as we move forward in making decisions.

We are bombarded with lies all day, every day. Some are blocked, but I think most get through. Some are taken captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), but most grow roots. The way combat these lies is through the truth of the Word of God. The way we hear the Word of God is through spending time reading it (both silently and especially aloud—Ephesians 12:17) and letting it transform us (Romans 12:2). I have learned that I can’t trust myself and what I am hearing when I have not been constantly in the Word. The more I gain nourishment in the Word, the more likely the counsel I hear is purely the Holy Sprit’s, not from my flesh.

Lastly, I have learned not to quit after a failure has occurred. The great thing about failure is that we have the opportunity to learn from it. The longer I stick with it, the better chance I have to use that learning in a future situation. We feel so crappy about failure because we have so many of them in so many different areas. Stick and stay, fail and learn, grow and surrender control, and do what you do in a manner where God gets the glory for the outcome.

“Go, fail with gusto.” –Mike Yaconelli

Eric Iverson is a native of Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he lives with his wife Judy and their two children. A twenty-five year youth ministry veteran, Eric currently serves as the Director of Multicultural Integrity for YouthWorks, Inc., and has been part of two short-term missions summits at FYI. Eric consults, teaches, and trains nationally around issues of poverty, race, justice, and multi-ethnic ministry.

Danny Kwon

As I complete my PhD in organizational leadership, I can tell you that I have read well over 100 books on the subject of leadership over the past three years. They range from theoretical and academically inclined books for those taking a more scholarly approach to leadership studies, to those that are practical in nature and include step-by-step principles and practices for leadership. Personally, while I would not say that I enjoyed all of the books I have read, I do believe that each and every one has something to say about leadership and, in particular, leadership development.

While each book was chosen with ministry in mind, I also chose them because of the unique way they have contributed to our local ministry and leadership development. Moreover, I tried to choose each one based on the unique perspective it is written from.

Leadership: Theory and Practice, by Peter Northouse, is the most scholarly or academic book I have chosen. Frankly speaking, I don’t know if many people outside those studying leadership on a serious academic level will be reading this book. However, he does have a book that is more practically geared, called Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice, that may be more appropriate for a general audience. What I love most about these two books is that they give a general introduction, history, and explanation to major schools of leadership theory and how it applies to real-life situations. Understanding the differences between transactional versus transformational leadership, the definition of servant leadership from an organizational leadership perspective, or team leadership models, has been extremely valuable as I seek to develop leadership in our youth ministry with our pastoral interns, adult volunteers, and student leadership. Moreover, having an overall picture of leadership theory has generally enriched and informed how I want to practice leadership development.

Peter Drucker’s seminal work, Managing the Nonprofit Organization, is a must read for anyone in ministry and considering leadership development. While the title presupposes the idea of management, Drucker has long been acknowledged for his more general contribution to leadership. The church is, of course, a nonprofit organization. Hence, Drucker’s work gives tangible principles and practices for directing and leading churches and ministry that can be used for leadership development and can subsequently foster an overarching vision for leadership and how we lead in our churches and youth ministries. As such, Drucker writes about topics such as organizational mission, performance, management, work relationships, and personal development in terms of leadership and management.

By far the most practical and easy-to-use book for leadership development is Essential Leadership, by Kara Powell and the Fuller Youth Institute. I have personally used this resource for leadership development for my adult volunteers, and I found it very beneficial. For starters, it comes with a leader’s guide and a participant guide. This is a valuable resource because it enables our adult volunteer leaders to better engage in their development personally but also from the perspective of the ministry as a whole. Second, the topics in this book cover a wide range that will equip those in our ministry to consider and grow in the wide range of issues that relate to our ministries and may even stretch our ministries. Finally, I found that using this comprehensive resource has enabled our volunteer staff to become more than just people who show up to youth events and activities. Rather, they have moved to becoming true shepherds and leaders.

Scot McKnight

I have a confession to offer: I neither look forward to reading nor do I even like leadership books. I’ve read a few, like Seth Godin’s Tribes and Nancy Beach’s Gifted to Lead. And, yes, I’ve read a few others, but I don’t like them and don’t get much out of them, and I say this as one whose pastor, Bill Hybels, is a leadership guru. Yes, I read Ruth Tucker’s Leadership Reconsidered because it sorted out models of leadership for me and gave me a handle on the discussion.

It’s not that I think the books are bad or that leadership is a bad idea. I’m just not wired to think the way leadership books think. My biggest complaint, and it doesn’t apply to all of these books or to any of them from cover to cover, is that they too often go in the wrong direction. They move from leadership models in our world and then find biblical verses about elders that say more or less the same thing. Or they find examples of leaders, like Joseph or Nehemiah or Jesus or Paul, and show how they did back in Bible days what leaders are now just finding—with the tone and implication that if leaders read the Bible, they’d have known this long ago. The movement I see too often is from here to there. It’s the wrong direction. We are called to move from there to here.

But there’s another leadership approach, and it can be called the deconstructive approach. Some say leadership is servant leadership, and they go to Mark 10:45, I didn’t come to be served but to serve, and show that Christian leadership is completely otherwise. That’s helpful, but I get cranky and cynical when I read this sort of thing because I wonder what’s next. Will they then slip in the leadership models into that servant leadership model? Sometimes they do.

Yet, I know there are more or less leaders in the Bible, and there are clear guidelines—say, in the Pastoral Epistles—about how the church’s leaders are to operate and guide and mentor and lead. Yet I’m still not satisfied. Maybe I’m just cranky.

So I want to put my idea on the line and see where it leads us. We have one leader, and his name is Jesus. I want to bang this home with a quotation from Jesus from Matthew 23, where he seems to be staring at the glow of leadership in the eyes of his disciples, and he does nothing short of deconstructing the glow:

But you are not to be called “Rabbi,” for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth “father,” for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Instead of seeing myself as a leader, I see myself as a follower. Instead of plotting how to lead, I plot how to follow Jesus with others. Instead of seeing myself at the helm of some boat—and mine is small compared to many others—I see myself in the boat, with Jesus at the helm.

Maybe I just have not read enough of the leadership books to know that I’m repeating what leadership books say. Maybe not. What I do want to say, though, is that leadership too often places the pastor or some person in the front and having others be guided (and following) that person, and that, I dare say, distorts the entire gospel. Jesus was willing to say that his followers didn’t have a rabbi of their own, didn’t have a human father in a position of ultimate authority, and they didn’t have an instructor who was their teacher. They had one rabbi and one instructor, and his name was Jesus, and he was Messiah. They had one father, and he was Creator of all. They were to see themselves as brothers, not leaders. That’s straight from the lips of Jesus.

There is something so profoundly deconstructing about Jesus’ words here that we need to take them much more seriously every time and any time we begin to talk about leaders and leadership. My contention is that we are not leaders but followers; that Jesus is the leader; and that any leading we do is by way of following.

That’s a rant. It happens to be one I believe.

Oh, the three books on leadership. How about four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John!

Mike King

Here are the three leadership books I recommend and why.

1) The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, by Peter Senge. Peter Senge wrote The Fifth Discipline in 1990. This book continues to be a seminal work on a systems-thinking approach to leadership and organizational culture. Senge discusses five disciplines that nurture a productive learning environment:

1) Personal Mastery. I think this is congruent with spiritual disciplines. A leader in a learning organization must be a learner. A leader must know herself and be self-aware. A leader must be willing to pick up his cross, pursue Jesus Christ intimately, and pour out his life for others. A leader must be able to hyper-focus on her vocation and not become diffused by trying to do too many things.

2) Mental Models. We all have assumptions deeply embedded in our minds about how the world works and what we think we must do to make things happen. Often these mental models are false constructs of how the world around us actually works.

3) Shared Vision. Creating a shared vision as a community of people stimulates synergistic engagement instead of sterile compliance.

4) Team Learning. In situated learning theory, I would call this the activity of a “community of practice” that leads to genuine learning and creativity.

5) Systems Thinking. This is the “fifth discipline” that allows one to integrate all of these disciplines into a new way of thinking and viewing reality.

I would put The Fifth Discipline in my list of top 20 books that have had the most influence on my life and the way I think about how the world works. This book provides an excellent paradigm for seeing beyond the seeing to comprehend and grasp dynamic complexities and the non-linear ways that systems work. This book has helped me better understand the complexities of leading a large organization, working in the church, dealing with challenging interpersonal issues, thinking about youth ministry, building relationships, and developing a rhythm of spiritual formation.

2) The Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, by Edwin Friedman. In many ways, Edwin Friedman takes what Peter Senge developed in The Fifth Discipline and advances it. The Failure of Nerve was actually completed after Friedman’s death. Friedman was a rabbi and a “family systems” therapist. He deals with the lack of leadership that exists in our organizations, homes, churches, and businesses because of our safety-conscious and data-driven culture that waters down and subverts true vision, risk-taking, and excellence.

Friedman describes how leaders are sabotaged by the people and organizations they lead and therefore must have the nerve and courage to nurture their own maturation, commitment, and skills in order to provide strong and firm leadership in their cultures. The book talks a lot about the important leadership characteristic of being a “non-anxious presence.” Friedman calls on leaders to rely upon their competencies and intuitive skills over and beyond reliance on the need for “more data” to fix problems. He values leadership stamina, confidence, and decisiveness over technique. One of the most significant contributions to the book is an examination of the concept of empathy and how too often this becomes an exercise of enabling dysfunction. This book adds an important element to the conversation concerning the tension between what it takes to build genuine community without dumbing down the organizational culture to the lowest common denominator.

3) The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations, by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom. As I write this, I’m really struck by how related yet different and (at first glance) contradictory these three book recommendations are, especially The Failure of Nerve versus The Starfish and the Spider. Whereas Friedman calls for a strong, decisive, and self-differentiated leader who is willing to make an intuitive decision for the organization, church, community, family, or business; Brafman and Beckstrom are proposing a “leaderless organization.” I’m assuming most of the readers of Slant33 are familiar with the concept of the starfish/spider metaphor, so I won’t go into the content of this wonderful little book. I have used The Starfish and the Spider in numerous university and seminary classes I have taught on missional theology, leadership, and ecclesiology. It resonates with much of the emerging generation who are not interested in being in authoritarian environments. However, I believe it takes a strong leader, like the one Friedman talks about in The Failure of Nerve, who understands the dynamic complexities Senge talks about in The Fifth Discipline, in order to create the kind of cultural environment that Brafman and Beckstrom describe in The Starfish and the Spider.

What do you think? What books on leadership would you add to the list? Make your suggestions below in the comment section.

Mike King

There seems to be a lot of resources on youth ministry websites that provide youth workers with practical ideas and effective ways to inspire, encourage, and equip parents in your ministry. So I want to suggest something that probably won’t be on a list of 10 things you can do to help the parents of the youth you minister to.

Here it is: Make sure you have a parent prophet in your faith community to tell parents the truth about parenting adolescents. It will probably need to be someone other than you, the youth pastor. If you are a 25-year-old youth worker without children, it is impossible to be the truth teller concerning parenting. Until you’ve experienced parenting (especially parenting of an adolescent), it is wise to have another pastor, parent, adult youth leader, or all of the above serve in the role of speaking truth to Christian parents in your faith community. If you aren’t old enough to serve in this role, you can definitely provide resources, information, and content to your parent prophet(s). The prophetic message that needs to be heard by parents is sometimes one of encouragement and sometimes one of exhortation.

As Vicki and I began our family back in the early '80s, we were firmly entrenched in a Christian culture that held the view that spiritual marriage relationships would be perfect if you put God first (you won't even argue or disagree with one another), and as long as you follow the rule book, you will also raise perfect kids who will never wander from faith in Jesus Christ.

Our culture overall and our church cultures specifically have created an unrealistic expectation that parents have a responsibility to raise perfect kids. Even if we could produce the perfect kid by the cultural standards of academic achievement, moral excellence, economic success, and productive citizenship, this certainly doesn’t mean we have nurtured and shaped disciples of Jesus Christ.

Too often Christian parents are made to believe that if they follow a specific formula, they are sure to raise spiritual giants. If you don’t raise a spiritual giant, well, it’s because you aren’t a spiritual parent, so goes the logic. This view of Christian parenting is a lie and is not consistent with Scripture. Too many Christian parents live in insecurity and shame over what is perceived as their inability to serve as guides for the spiritual formation of their children. We were not made to parent alone without the help of a community of people committed to being the people of God.

While I believe that we parents have a crucial role in the Christian formation of our kids, we have taken on too much responsibility with the idea that we are the ones who transform them. We resort to desperate tactics and rules we hope will somehow turn them into the kind of young adults who believe and do the right things. We often overlook the role we have of nurturing the environments where God’s Spirit transforms them.

We must help the parents in our faith communities quit living under the guilt of trying to parent successfully and embrace the concept of parenting faithfully. In January, Christianity Today featured a cover story written by Leslie Leyland Fields.

She stated, “We are not sovereign over our children—only God is. Children are not tomatoes to stake out or mules to train, nor are they numbers to plug into an equation. They are full human beings wondrously and fearfully made. Parenting, like all tasks under the sun, is intended as an endeavor of love, risk, perseverance, and, above all, faith. It is faith rather than formula, grace rather than guarantees, steadfastness rather than success that bridges the gap between our own parenting efforts, and what, by God's grace, our children grow up to become.”

Parent prophets can encourage the parents of the adolescents we minister to and help them through the challenging task of raising their kids.

On the other hand, parent prophets must also be willing to exhort and challenge parents. One of the most alarming trends I see today (as a youth worker for 36 years, a father for 30, and a grandfather for 4) is the emphasis parents place on preparing their children to excel in sports. I love sports. I play sports. I follow sports. However, there is something terribly dysfunctional about parents pushing their kids to excel in sports by investing in personal trainers and jumping from one competitive sports season to the next in an endless pursuit to raise the next LeBron James, Tiger Woods, or Andre Agassi. I know college is expensive, but the likelihood of training your child into a college athletic scholarship is about as probable as winning the $200,000,000 lottery.

I am disappointed that many Christian parents aren’t more zealous about making the Christian formation of their teenagers a first priority. Where are our values as Christian parents? I wonder what parents who define themselves as practicing Christians would choose if they could pick (with a guarantee) between a) my kid will be a major, successful, and wealthy sports star, or b) my kid will love Jesus Christ and faithfully live a life glorifying God?

We need parent prophets to speak truth into the lives of parents in our faith communities. What if Christian parents invested in the Christian formation of their children as passionately as some parents invest in the athletic training of their children? I believe this kind of investment in the spiritual development of the emerging generation of young people is desperately needed.

Brooklyn Lindsey

How do we know if we’ve been effective in this area? There are the occasional thank you emails, voicemail messages, or, if we find ourselves blessed enough to remain at a church for any length of time—the obvious results of great Christian parenting made visible in the students themselves over the span of middle school and high school years.

Knowing that a teenager’s faith importance is closely linked to the faith importance of their parents1 , it’s non-negotiable that we continually address this need—especially since it’s so easy to overlook or underestimate in the practical work of youth ministry.

So near the end of the post, I’ll share some things that have worked for me in being a helper to parents as they guide their children through adolescence.

However, one lesson I’ve learned more recently needs to be shared from a parent in a culture different from my own. His name is Joelson. He is from Brazil and is the father of four beautiful children—two grown, two still in school. I met Joelson while studying for ministry abroad. He graciously hosted my husband and me in his home while we stayed in Rio de Janeiro. I noticed that his parenting style was different from what I’ve observed in the States. But more recently, I’ve been able to observe it again because he is currently staying with my in-laws in Ohio to learn English for a few months.

On a recent trip to Ohio, I watched “Papa Joe,” as the family calls him, take my eight-month-old daughter to the ground (he’s 6’10”). He sat with her on her level. He played with her closely and gave her personal attention for at least an hour. In our culture, many times our attention to time constraints keeps us from making it to the floor and spending the one-on-one time with our children that they need, myself included.

Joelson was asked to help coach the high school basketball team. True to form, he pays little attention to what society says about getting to know a student. He told my husband’s parents, “I want to go to every boy’s home and meet his parents.” Their caring response was, “Maybe you should talk to the head coach first about your plans.”

A genuine desire to help and be a support to others can be hindered by the fear that we aren’t doing the right thing, asking for the right permission, or getting the appropriate signed waivers. Joelson doesn’t seem to care what the head coach thinks in this situation. He wants to care for the guys on the team, and going to their houses to meet them where they live is a part of that process, so he’ll do it, regardless.

I’m learning from Joelson that we shouldn’t be paralyzed by “what ifs” when seeking out families in our ministries. If we desire to help them, then we must get to know them. If we desire to love them, then we must open our doors—or encourage our leaders to open their doors. Encouraging, equipping, and inspiring parents begins with a passion to know them, and to know them means to understand them, and to understand them means to respond to their needs with help.

Now what that looks like is going to be different for every family we meet, every culture we encounter, and every hardship or blessing we experience in the process. And of course, the Holy Spirit will help us. We aren’t left standing to figure it out on our own. The divine paraclete—the comforter who walks beside us—also walks with us to the front door of our youth ministry where parents and teenagers stand waiting, sometimes broken, sometimes confused, sometimes simply needing a refreshing word to keep doing what they are already doing so well.

So my advice below might be helpful, but following Joelson’s example might be even better. Meet the parents. Go on. Do it. And see what happens next.
1. Listen. Give parents in your ministry your personal attention when they come to you with a concern. I may not have the answer they need, but I’ve found that listening and paying attention are often the best gifts you can give. Most of the time I find that parents end up answering their own questions. The ones who can, oftentimes just need a little nudge in the right direction. For those who face issues or challenges much bigger than we can address, walk with them in referral until they find the person who can help them best.

2. Provide solidarity. Give parents designated space to talk, mingle, and share stories. When they begin sharing with each other, many realize that they aren’t the only ones facing an obstinate daughter or dealing with a kid who can’t seem to make it home with his homework. Offer a parent connect time once a month. Provide coffee or brunch before a worship service. Make it easy for them to join and easy for them to leave.

3. Offer training on felt needs. Each quarter, offer a discussion group on needs that you sense are hot for parents in your group. Encourage parents to share their ideas with each other and offer up your expertise. You can do this with many areas of needs or just one.

4. Plan ahead. Meet with parents before their teenagers go through major transitions. John Wooden used to say that preparing for an opportunity when it arrives is too late. Prepare before it comes, and you’ll teach parents to be successful.

5. Pray. Pray for your parents. Pray without ceasing. Pray for them when you feel led. Pray for them when you’re at odds. Pray and you’ll find ways to encourage and inspire that you never dreamed of before.

[1] To read more on this correlation read: Soul Searching by Christian Smith. Oxford University Press, 2005

Andy Root

Warning: this is my most concrete, practice-driven post ever! You may not recognize me…

Parenting is hard work! I think we all know that, but to know the depth of the difficulty, you really have to be a parent. I used to think, before I had kids, that I had a pretty good idea of what it would take to be a good parent, and I thought (and I know this sounds a little cocky) that I would be a really good parent. I had, after all, spent a number of years working with young people and had read a truckload on children and adolescents.

I remember watching parents in public places have their less-than-best parenting moments and being able to deconstruct and reconstruct what they should have done and what difference it would make for them and for their children. Watching parents appease their crying kids in Target with a face full of candy swiped from the aisle mid-tantrum, I used to shake my head in disapproval – until it was my own kids melting down and it was me shoving Gummy Bears down their wailing throats.

Parenting is hard work, and most parents feel pretty defensive. We feel like most days and weeks we’re just barely holding on, and honestly, the last thing we need or want is some punk youth worker telling us all the things we’re doing wrong. We know there are many. A lot of them have to do with shortage of time, which zaps patience, so your little parent training event seems like just another thing on my to-do list that will make me feel worse than I already do, so forget it! That’s honestly how I feel, and I’ve been a youth worker and now spend my time training them, ironically, to care about families and see young people as inextricably bound to them.

So despite feeling like that, here are a few things to think about when it comes to relating to, inspiring, encouraging, and equipping parents.

First, approach parents as a broken advocate, not as a specialist. You may be the youth pastor and maybe even have a seminary degree, but you’re no parenting expert. Plus, even parenting experts are rarely welcomed into the family’s private space. Especially if you’re young and childless yourself, don’t approach parents like you have something to teach them. Rather, approach them as someone who wants to help, someone who wants to be a listening ear. Encounter parents as someone who wants to be with them, sharing their place as they go through the ups and downs of parenting.

From the perspective of a professional expert, you have no right to confront or tell parents difficult things, but as someone advocating for them and someone who is in deep relationship with their children, you actually do—if you approach them as someone who cares for their children. Think of it this way. Don’t go up to a parent and say, “Hey, I heard you’re divorcing; I would really like to get together and share with you some of the negative ways divorce affects children and then provide you with a sheet of ten dos and don’ts to keep in mind as your divorce unfolds.” If I were that parent I would want to kick you right in the you-know-what.

But if you approach a parent and say, “Hey, as you know, I’ve been spending some time with Gwen, and she mentioned that some really hard stuff is happening in your family. I can’t imagine what this must be like. I know she has some worries that she’s expressed to me; is it all right if we talk at some point?” This statement is hard in its own right, and feelings of defensiveness may come, but instead of being a judging expert, you rather simply a sympathetic advocate.

The second thing we can do is create a space for parents. In many ways it’s amazing that parents who spend time in congregations don’t feel supported as parents. The congregation is one of the only places in society that allows space for people across the parenting landscape (some with infants, some with grown children, some with teenagers) to encounter each other, learn from each other, and be supported by each other’s stories.

This should be one of the concrete practices youth and family ministers do—create a parent storytelling space. Don’t make it a parenting “mentoring group” or parent “passing the wisdom” group. Let that stuff just naturally happen. Have no agenda; just the invitation to all sorts of people to tell their parenting stories. I guarantee that wisdom, advice, and concrete practices will follow, but they will follow from the story and from encountering each other, which has a much deeper impact than a seminar or book.

So, in other words, the church already has the resources it needs to support families. It is a yearning, searching community; we just need to allow space for support to happen.

What are some critical things to remember when leading teams?

Steve Argue

I can only speak from what I’ve discovered with my teams, and hopefully it will inspire something for you. These are in no particular order to these since I believe each, in some way, informs the others.

A team is more than its individuals. There’s a tremendous difference between a group of people who individually divide up their work to accomplish a task and a group that works together toward something more. The former can produce excellent yet disjointed tasks that remain looking like a wall full of sticky notes. The latter evokes a budding art form that surprises everyone as it takes on a life of its own. One of the hardest things to do is encourage teams to move through individualistic (often brilliant) patterns into the realm where efforts and personalities create something that no one can create on his own. This process takes time and is certainly less efficient, requiring leadership that protects the process.

Process is more important than product. I don’t mean to be extreme (maybe I do). I’ve experienced too many teams complete tasks only to end up more unhealthy, more burned out, and more at odds with each other than when they began. Somehow the process got the product done but killed everyone in the meantime. I believe attention to the process nurtures transformation more than an end product. It’s where the members make meaning of their experiences and are challenged to reframe success beyond end results.

Often, this is where dysfunction is confronted—even the “beneficial” dysfunctions like workaholism, self-promotion, isolationism, or guilt/fear motivations. There are goals within the goal that surface as people get closer to a project, to each other, and to oneself. Leadership creates space for each person to reflect on how he is making sense of the project’s multiple layers, resisting internal and external pressures to merely produce. The end results, then, are celebration and formation, not merely checking something off the list and reinforcing dysfunction in the name of “efficiency” or worse, “ministry.”

Words, writing, and language matter. I get grief from my peers and teams for being a document guy. I like to write things down so my teams get the full context of my ideas. It’s through documents that others can interact with my ideas, improving them, making them better so an idea moves from becoming mine to ours. My goal is that, when our teams talk about research, ministry philosophy, or theological concepts, we all have a clear sense of what we mean and where we’re going together. Words, writing, and language become pathways toward dialogue rather than one-way orders or defensive walls. This requires great trust in each other to put an idea (and ego!) out there to be critiqued and changed, hoping and believing that dialogue is always better than monologue.

Reading, thinking, and discourse are crucial. My team also gives me a hard time for perpetually sending them articles I think will help them think about their interests. My hope is that they remember they’re part of a bigger conversation that’s happening around us. What’s fun is that I’m now receiving articles from my teammates. Maybe it’s payback, or maybe our team is developing the discipline of keeping an eye on this broader landscape of the conversation. And here’s my most hopeful secret—I believe they have something to add to the conversation. Watch for their articles. They’re coming…

Delegating is stupid. Go ahead and quote Jethro’s advice to Moses, but don’t use this as a support for delegation. Delegation often becomes a buzzword for leaders passing off things they don’t like to do, which is not encouraging to team members. True delegation (if we must use that term) is more about a leader admitting limitation, trusting others, and nurturing others’ callings. It is a posture of trust, not a posture of power. When you “delegate,” may you not only delegate task but also the authority that goes with it. May the receiver of delegation know that a new responsibility has been given to him because he is believed in and his contribution will help the team and his own next steps of personal growth. Any other sort of delegation that is shortsighted or last minute is stupid. If you doubt this, when you ask your teammates to do something, do they look up (pick me!), or look down (please don’t pick me)?

Teams can “lead” themselves. A final thought is that leaders of teams have a role, but there is a greater corrective, and that is when a team leads itself; when quality is shared; when everyone is supportive; when help is asked for; when challenge is done in love; when there is laughter along the way; when each person is changing for the better. Then, something’s happening. The best thing a leader can often do is use her power to clear the way (time, resource, encouragement, etc.) to let things happen and allow the team to become just that—a team.

As I reflect on my list, one common theme I see is that my crucials are not quick fixes. Most are process-oriented postures that challenge me to commit to the long haul, to resist short-term success, to patiently nurture space for individual and group transformation. It’s the team that matters. Not me.

Jim Hampton

As one who has led teams now for more than 25 years, I wish I could say that every team I’ve led has been a resounding success story, but I’d be lying. What I can say is that the longer I do this, the better I become at it. In the case of leading teams, experience really has been the best teacher.

That said, let me offer two suggestions I have found particularly helpful in leading ministry teams. (My focus will be on leading the team itself, rather than recruiting the team. Slant 33 did a series of articles on recruiting previously that can be found here.

Take time to build relationships with the other members of the team. Some of us are so task oriented that we too often see team members as extra appendages of our bodies. Just give them a task to do and set them loose is our thinking.

However, that is a terribly misguided notion. We have to remember that the members of our team are people; people who crave relationships and who often work best in the context of community support and encouragement. When we fail to truly get to know others (their families and life situations, their passions, their walks with God, their talents and abilities, etc.), then we end up treating them as objects to fulfill our needs rather than seeing them as people made in the image of God who have valuable things to offer the team and the kingdom. Relationships should always precede tasks.

Building relationships with the other members of the team also allows you to build trust. The more you know about them, the more you can trust them. Similarly, the more they know about you, the more they can trust you. I discovered that when your team members know you are for them, they are much more willing to assume your decisions are for the best, even if they don’t always understand the why behind them. Without this type of trust, you can easily be misperceived in your decisions and direction. As a colleague of mine is fond of saying, “An action uninterpreted is an action misunderstood.” When we build this type of relationship with our team members, we become better at communicating the actions we are taking as a leader and explaining why we are taking them.

When I was a local church youth pastor, we did many things to encourage the building of relationships. We had monthly sponsor meetings, where the focus of the first 30-45 minutes was simply food and fellowship. I found that during this time, people would talk about what was going on in their lives. It became a wonderful time as people shared with each other, often taking time to stop and pray with and for each other.

We also tried to offer an annual sponsor retreat each fall. It was a lot of work to get enough volunteers to cover all the Sunday school classes, small groups, and other youth ministry positions that would normally be needed during a weekend. But I found it incredibly fruitful when we could gather all of our youth ministry workers and spend a weekend playing together, dreaming together, and planning for the upcoming year. As part of our worship times together, our adult workers learned that their community was the body of youth workers, and they learned to lean on each other the rest of the year.

Put people in positions to succeed, and then empower them to do so. Most of the volunteers I’ve had on my teams are professional people who are very talented in their jobs. They are given huge responsibilities at work and expected to handle the jobs flawlessly. And the vast majority of the time, they succeed.

Why is it, then, that when it comes to giving people responsibilities for ministry, we too often default either to not giving them any real responsibility, or giving them responsibilities but never any real authority to carry the tasks out, insisting that they run everything through us?

It’s important that we give real responsibility to people, but we also have to know their level of handling a task. (This can only happen through truly knowing the other person, as mentioned above.) It is demeaning to a well-trained person not to give her real authority to determine how to do something, even if she does it differently than you would. Similarly, it can feel oppressive to give someone a task he is not equipped to handle. All of us have had someone volunteer to take on a specific task of ministry only to fail. I’m convinced that most of the time, their failures are really our failures because we failed to make sure we had the right people for the right job.

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins refers to this as getting the right people on the bus. For those of us in youth ministry, it means we first have to know what our real needs are then work hard to find people with the right mix of gifts who can succeed in the ministry areas to which we assign them.

When we lead teams by these principles, we develop a group of people who are willing to give everything to ensure the ministry succeeds. They do this because they believe in you as the leader and the vision you’ve cast. They do it because they find the community that is present to be vitally important in helping them live out their Christian faith. And they do it because they like to be successful, and the team allows them to do that.

Leading teams can be tough, but it can also be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do if you get the right people doing the right jobs and learning to build deep relationships one with the other.

Dave Rahn

In Em Griffin’s IVP book from some years ago, Getting Together: A Guide for Good Groups, he summarized as succinctly as I ever heard how research on group dynamics collects around three factors that predict success and satisfaction. Whenever I think of leading teams, I run through my version of this mental checklist.

Where are we going? Ensuring there is a clear and commonly shared purpose, vision, and direction for any team is one of the most important elements to leading. A team imposes expectation of time and commitment on its members. Ultimately, everyone decides whether the cause is worth an investment.

The worst teams I’ve been part of have either been fuzzy about their reason for existence or their focus has shifted. Sometimes the change of direction is intentional. That’s fair, but team members need to have the opportunity to reevaluate their commitment when that takes place. At other times, teams simply get distracted by all of the other collateral causes they encounter while working on their main purpose. When that happens, the sense of dissatisfaction sneaks up on us a bit more slowly until we awaken one day to the realization that we “didn’t sign up for this.”

New coaches often bring changes in philosophy and direction to the teams they lead. They talk about how their squad has or has not bought in to the vision of what is now going to be attempted together. This psychological ownership of direction is a dynamic factor for those of us who lead teams. It should never be assumed, and we can’t work too hard at making sure that our purposes are clear and everyone is on board.

How do I fit? Teams are beautiful things when they work well. Their interdependence, coordination, synchronicity, and synergy introduce potential for accomplishment that simply can’t be matched by a collection of individual efforts. One of the important predictors of a team’s success is the degree to which every member of the team knows how she contributes to the common goal.

Sometimes these roles are identified formally. Bill always takes notes at our meetings. Jarrod translates our work for distribution through social media outlets. Nina pays attention to the calendar and ensures that our next steps are clear. But other roles emerge from within the dynamics of a group experience. We look to Tim for problem-solving analysis, and Joel supplies the right blend of humor and curiosity to keep things energized. It doesn’t matter much whether our team roles are formal or informal. What does matter is that every member realizes that the part he plays is necessary—not optional—as we co-labor toward a shared vision. Team leaders earn their keep by making sure everyone knows where he fits and feels valued for her contribution.

Are we tight? This last factor predicting team success is a little more slippery to get hold of. It testifies to a group’s cohesion, its members’ belief in each other, and the great sense of camaraderie that’s experienced together. Often it’s as simple as really liking being a member of this team. This factor should not be underestimated. It’s the glue that holds some teams together when challenges are particularly daunting. When it is not present, people begin to feel like belonging is no big deal.

Church softball or bowling teams all across the country are successful without ever posting winning records because they have created a sense of “we-ness” that is compelling to all sorts of non-athletes. When team members simply want to be part of whatever we’re doing simply because we’re doing it together, we’ve probably got a group that benefits from some good stickiness.

Leaders help make this happen by paying attention to the little things that pop up spontaneously to cement the group together. Shared experiences that supply vivid and colorful memories are particularly effective means to bind us together. We can plan for space to make them happen, like we do when we take team retreats. But we can’t always predict what amazing moments will take place or when. Good leaders notice the sparks that have the chance to fuel a fire of cohesion and fan them well.

What is the difference between empowering people and encouraging people?

Danny Kwon

The question of empowering people versus encouraging people cuts to the heart of my ministry philosophy and how I wish our ministry would function as far as it concerns our leaders, volunteers, and student leaders. People always say I am a great encourager. However, I have found that true encouragement can be found in empowering others. My studies in organizational leadership from the corporate world have helped me refine how I practice empowerment in the church.

In quoting W.A. Randolph, Fred Luthans, a scholar in organizational behavior, states the definition of empowerment as “recognizing and releasing into the organization the power that people have in their wealth of useful knowledge and internal motivation.” Another scholar defined it as “releasing the knowledge, experience, and motivational power that is already in people but is being severely underutilized.” These definitions of empowerment from the corporate world help one begin to understand what empowerment is all about and why and how we need to empower people in the church. For me, this ultimately means that I am nurturing ways in which others can lead within our ministry and use their God-given gifts for the church.

There are other vital elements of empowerment from the corporate world that can be applied to the church and relate to nurturing others to lead. For example, trust is a key issue in relation to empowerment. Those who write about empowerment in the corporate world note that trust is a two-way street where managers and employees have to believe in each other. They also discuss trust in reference to releasing the power within an individual. In doing so, they state how management must ensure individuals that they will be trusted within the empowerment process.

Finally, trust also comes from the sharing of vital information that equips employees to be informed to make important organizational decisions and lead themselves. Within a youth or any ministry setting, it is the difference between a ministry being just (youth) pastor centered and having other leaders, such as volunteers, lay leaders, and student leaders who are empowered in trust to lead and execute the ministry as shepherds also, rather than being spectators.

When trust is practiced with those we empower, we are also breeding loyalty to organization. As one business executive put it, empowerment is an act of trust that functions positively to breed loyalty in an organization. Perhaps then, engagement is a more precise definition of the loyalty that results from empowerment. Nancy Lockwood, another scholar, notes in relation to this that “employees who are highly involved in their work processes, such as conceiving, designing, and implementing workplace and process changes, are more engaged.”

Many ministries have issues with retaining effective volunteers. Perhaps empowerment can be one way to breed a loyalty of effective volunteers. It has surely helped in our ministry. We have volunteers who serve over the long haul because they feel a real sense of loyalty because they are empowered leaders.

Finally, organizational design is also a key element of empowerment. If an organization is to nurture empowerment, then it must provide the framework for it to flourish. Ministries that are more vertical or top-down in nature do not promote empowerment. However, horizontal organizations and leadership structures speak to ways that an organization can promote empowerment. Hence, as far as ministry in a local church, this means that ministries must be led by more than just the head youth pastor or lead pastor. Rather, leadership must be spread among different avenues and people.

Similarly, ministries can be designed to foster empowerment in their organizational design so that volunteers, lay leaders, and student leaders will be vital parts of the leadership of the ministries. Ultimately, this may be challenging to some leaders who have been engrained in a top-down leadership structure. However, if this is not done, the empowerment of others will never be nurtured, and the gifts and talents of many will not be utilized.

Helpful Resources:
Immerse: A Journal of Faith, Life and Youth Ministry

Lilly Lewin

I had coffee with a good friend this week who is an assistant pastor at a church. Recently their staff team went on a “retreat” together. As soon as they got in the van, the senior pastor began to cast the vision for the fall and upcoming year. Sadly, the tasks and goals lists just kept coming. There was little praise or encouragement for the year just finished, and there was no dialogue about problems and hurdles for the upcoming year.

My friend thought they’d get a chance to reconnect personally, get encouraged, and have some fun. He was expecting a year-in-review, some honest dialogue about what they’d been doing, and perhaps a little empowerment to get them going on the next things. But the entire weekend was task oriented, not relationship based.

The sad thing about most ministries is that we are too often asked to do our jobs and just “git ’er done”…with very little encouragement, much less the money or people power to do it well. What we really could use is a large glass of encouragement and gallon of empowerment; the freedom to do our jobs and do them well without being micromanaged. (And it would also be nice to have some time to recover in order to keep going!)

How does one empower someone else? Easy, really—help her see that she has power to begin with or give him true power without using it to control him. Know the gifts people have and allow them to use those gifts in ways that they will succeed.

Too often we encourage people—students, friends, our own kids—but we don’t help them attain what we’ve encouraged them to do or be. We don’t help them get the tools they need to do the tasks at hand. We cheerlead, but we don’t set them free to engage on their own terms. We encourage without empowering.

So, what does it mean to empower? Giving power and authority, enabling someone to do something in a positive way.

In order to empower someone, we often have to give up or give away our own power or status. We have to decrease so others can increase. It means letting someone else lead, teach, create.

And to encourage? Giving someone the courage and confidence, the hope to go forward. Sometimes it’s a real pat on the back; sometimes it’s a verbal blessing; sometimes it’s listening and actually hearing someone’s story.

What do I really want? Both! Don’t you? Please encourage me, and then empower me to do it well! Give me the tools I need to get the job done. Enable me to have the time, space, and tools to succeed. Give me honest feedback. And provide me with the resources I need to do well. Set me free to try and fail. And then encourage me to get up and try again.

Why doesn’t this happen more often on church staff? The reasons are simple and sad.

• When we get power, we never want to give it away.
• Others are a threat to our power and want to take it for themselves.
• The design of most churches is to be an expression of one person’s vision, held accountable by a group that doesn’t understand the real inner workings and problems of a church staff.
• What we really want is to have enough people and therefore enough money. If what I do doesn’t obviously lead to more dollars, what I do doesn’t matter.

While this is reality in many places, we all know it’s not kingdom living. Maybe you and I can’t change the system overnight, but this can and must change. What can we do?

• Change the definitions and lose the fear of power and giving it away. • Learn and practice taking the time to listen to each other and give good feedback to those we work with.
• Model the behavior we seek. Encourage others and give away power.
• Help others to see their gifts and allow them to use them!
• Help our students, our communities, and ourselves see our mission and use our gifts outside the church building—being the church in the real world.
• Build a real support system outside the church staff where we can get authentic feedback, courage, and hope.

Let’s choose to encourage and empower others as we long to be encouraged and empowered ourselves.

Andy Root

Empowering and encouraging seem indelibly connected to me. I think the core to encouragement is really seeing another, hearing another, and acting with and for another. I think we all feel encouraged when this happens.

And I think this kind of encouragement has rich theological significance. Being seen, heard, and acted with is what makes us human because we confess that God sees us, hears us, and acts with and for us. God does this within Godself first. As Trinity, God sees self, hears self, and acts with and for self as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Encouragement is central to love; and at the core of Godself is the love between Father, Son, and Spirit. But the love of encouragement always sends, and sending is empowering.

You’re a bad parent, even if you love your kids, if you don’t send them out into the world. We prosecute people who say they love their kids so much they locked them in the basement and never let them out into the world, never empowered them to be selves. Love always empowers to be sent into the world.

But this sending (to give it circular flavor) has to be connected to encouragement. You’re also a bad parent if you say, “I don’t give a darn what you do, just go out and have fun,” giving no support or encouragement in being sent.

So God’s love, as Trinity, sees, hears, and acts then sends. When God sees, hears, and acts God sends—first Godself and then, through Godself, us. Swept up into the love of God, encouraged, we are empowered to participate in God’s movement in the world.

And we see this most clearly in the second person of the Trinity being sent into the world as fully divine and fully human. Jesus is empowered by the loving encouragement of the Father to go into the world. He is sent to be human so humanity might know that God always see, hears, and acts and, in knowing, might participate in God’s own love, also being sent (empowered) to love and encourage those in the world, to witness to God’s action.

This means that God, through and in Jesus, encourages us to be human. God encourages us to face our questions, to be honest about our limits, to seek God within our human journey as we are sent and empowered by the Spirit to encourage others. So then in ministry, we empower people by encouraging them to be human, to live honesty in search of God—not in perfection but in their questions and doubts. The God of the cross empowers us by comforting and encouraging us that God is with and for us in our deepest sufferings and longings. We encourage and empower people in our ministry when we invite them to be human and, in their humanity, to search for a God who will send them into the world to love it, through the empowerment of the Spirit.

This is the problem with disconnecting encouragement and empowerment. To tease them apart can lead to spiritual abuse. Without encouragement, you don’t really care about the humanity of your adult leader, just that he or she is empowered to do the tasks you have for them—if you’re honest, to make you look more successful. So you can try and try to empower them, but if they never feel encouraged, never feel seen, heard, and acted with, then they can never really do ministry. Because, in the end, you’re inviting leaders to be sent into the lives of young people, to empower young people by encouraging them, by being with and for them as God—as Trinity—is with and for us.

But you also can’t encourage adult leaders without sending them, without empowering them. How often do we tell adult leaders that they’re super important to what we do and then never give them any leadership, never allow them to take ownership? To have really encouraged them is to give them the ministry, to trust that their empowerment to be human with and for young people, to go and encourage young people, will be the fullness of the ministry of the Trinity.

What are the five best things to teach your interns?

Steve Argue

Dear Future Interns,

Chances are that you’re considering connecting with a church or nonprofit organization because you believe it’s the next step for you as you explore your interests and unpack your calling. What I have discovered with many interns like you is a contagious enthusiasm that fuels energetic participation. Sadly, I have also seen this same enthusiasm and energy transfer to cynicism and disappointment when the internships fail to live up to expectations.

I encourage you to seek out organizations that will set you up for a truly helpful internship. In your search, ask the following questions:

Do they value the meaning you’re making more than what you’re producing? I have often found that interns think their role is to rock the world, impressing those they work for. Mix this with organizations that are excited about cheap labor and you have the potential for intern burnout. The main purpose of your internship is not for you to produce but for you to make meaning of your experiences.

Pragmatically, you may have the chance to excel in your gifts/talents, benefiting those with whom you work. Developmentally, however, you have a wellspring of opportunity as you reflect beyond what you’re doing, toward why, or what is going on behind your activity.

What gives me joy?
Why did that experience evoke fear?
What am I learning about myself?

Your internship must encourage reflective space for your own thinking/journaling, raising more questions than answers, entering regular dialogue with your mentor. Without this, you will miss one of the most important elements of your internship experience.

Do they encourage discovery more than conformity? Internships should challenge interns’ assumptions about life, ministry, and self. If you can embrace a reality where doubt is a portal; if you can embrace the idea that failure brings wisdom; that pain is solidarity; that joy arises in unexpected places, you will begin to experience a different kind of internship that has the potential to rearrange your life categories.

When you are tempted to say, “This isn’t what I signed up for,” you may on the threshold of a more profound experience.

Will this internship mess me up? Hopefully.
Will this internship allow me to ask questions of my mentor and myself? It must.

In this process, ensure that churches/organizations allow these transformative thresholds to happen. Those who repress doubt as disloyalty; see failure as “unprofessional;” view pain as something to be solved; and equate joy in numbers and programs betray people, interns, redemption. Avoid them.

Do they see internship as a sacred role? If you are motivated to join a church/organization because “it will look good on my résumé,” rethink doing an internship. Using internships to “help get ahead” can easily lead to exploiting people. Ultimately your goal should be to serve those associated with your internship. This means knowing your role and remembering that behind your task are real people.

Menial tasks have meaning.
Projects are connected with real people.
Conversations you have with others are holy ground.
Work you give your mentor helps or hurts her.

See every activity as a sacred expression. Treat each task as a redemptive act. Ensure that your conversations with your mentor are not merely about the tasks you’re doing but how these tasks are affecting the people you are serving. Intern and mentor hearts should break as much as tasks get completed.

Are they willing to give you significant feedback? Mentors and interns must view internships as experimentation. Expect to make mistakes along the way. While affirmation is helpful, real learning comes through talking about the things that didn’t go so well. Be courageous enough to bring these things up with your mentor. Ensure that your mentor is willing to go there with you (many are unable).

Additionally, seek feedback beyond the tasks toward the competencies you are developing.

Can you be honest with your mentor and with yourself?
Will your mentor consistently seek you out?
Is taking ministry and relational risks valued?

Internship goals should reflect a commitment to growing in your competencies as a person and follower of Jesus. Not just getting things done.

Do they encourage healthy living? Limited intern time forces you to steward your role well, investing your best in the hours allotted. You are not a better intern if you continually work more than your intern hours—you’re a budding workaholic establishing destructive patterns. Accept your limitations. Laugh. Do your best. Don’t expect to do it all.

Ensure that your mentor/organization is equally diligent about this. Make sure they value (and model) healthy work habits and a realistic outlook about one’s person and one’s ministry.

How is work assessed?
Will your mentor model a healthy lifestyle?
Who are you beyond your internship?

Finally… It is my assumption that organizations that are unwilling to invest in their interns are not ready for interns. Be sure you know what you are joining to ensure that your intern experience encourages your development and prepares you for life beyond internship. Then, someday, do the same for others.

Danny Kwon

Interns come to our churches—and specifically to our youth groups—not only to learn but also to be trained and molded continuously as valuable leaders in God’s kingdom. Presently, we have four interns serving in our youth ministry. So in the spirit of being a good researcher, I turned this week’s topic around and asked the interns themselves what are the five best things they have learned as interns. I hoped this would make a most interesting contrast to what I perceive are the five best things to teach interns. Moreover, in seeing these differences in perceptions of what has been learned, it can provide a place to glean implications for me and those who lead present and future leaders.

Five Best Things My Interns Have Learned:

1. Learn what it is to take ownership of the youth group.

2. Learn to plan ahead.

3. React well to unexpected things that happen during ministry (emergencies and surprises).

4. Keep some kind of record (e.g., a calendar) to remember things about the ministry.

5. Use wisdom in all circumstances.

1. I really don't have any idea what I'm doing. I thought I learned and knew everything I needed to know about ministry from past and previous experiences and books, but I definitely got owned.

2. I am not a student's parent. The parents are the ones who are primarily responsible for their children's spiritual lives, not me (if their parents are active members in the church).

3. It is important to be respectful and honor the culture and traditions of the church regardless of how I may feel about it.

4. It is important to respect the students and not treat them like babies or assume they are immature, naive, ignorant, etc. (even though they may be).

5. If you have the chance to work in a team environment and with experienced pastors/youth workers as opposed to running your own show, take advantage of that opportunity. Experienced pastors/youth workers will be able to call you out and keep you accountable.

1. I am continuing to learn and distinguish what relational ministry entails. Relational ministry takes patience and a lot of grace—for ourselves and for others. It continually reflects on the incarnational ministry of Christ, which is the model I would like to implement in my life and ministry. A distinction I’ve seen in this particular ministry is that incarnational ministry is not another program in ministry, but it is simply being in love with God and loving those we are sent to serve.

2. The quality of the relationships and level of communication within the leadership team significantly affect ministry as a whole. As a part of the leadership team, I am learning what it truly means to be a servant leader. I have to continually keep my attitude in check and work within the team. Decision making and working together in ministry must be communicated across the team so that confusion or misunderstandings will not take place, whether in the team or the ministry as a whole.

3. Time management is something I have learned is vital to my own personal life and ministry. Being a full-time student of a rigorous seminary while serving in ministry is not easy. There are a lot of things to balance. I've learned that a lack of discipline in my use of time not only affects my personal life but my ability to serve and minister as well.

4. I've learned that there are different ways of managing leadership teams. A leader who micro-manages a team controls every detail and responsibility as if he/she is not working with others, while the leader who macro-manages delegates responsibilities to others to achieve the same goal.

5. I've learned that my personal time of worshiping God should not be neglected. As I am serving others, I should only depend upon God alone, for he is my only source of strength and the one who sustains me.

1. Exposure to a ministry operation.

2. Learning what it means to lead beyond simple mechanics.

3. Time management.

4. Learning to balance and make priorities. One example is that if you're too prideful it leads to arrogance, but if you don't have enough confidence, that can lead to faithlessness.

5. Remembering to be always thankful and learning how to apply that to sincerity in one's work and brevity in one's work responses.

Overall, in considering these four lists, I have realized a few things myself.

1. I often focus on more tangible aspects of ministry such as time management, returning emails/texts, being on time, professionalism. I am glad to see that deeper, more profound aspects of ministry were learned by my interns, whether intentionally or not (but I hope it was more intentional).

2. In reference to intentionality, I am blessed, grateful, and joyful for the things my interns learned from our ministry. And while I did question my intentionality of teaching them these things, I do believe that these are intentional and consistent values and aspects of our ministry. Hence, I would stress in terms of the book of James that faith and works do go hand in hand. In other words, I have hope and conviction that the things my interns have learned, which I am proud they have learned, were really just the fruits of the ministry itself and how we function. So ultimately, actions speak louder than words.

3. “Teach a person to fish.” After seeing these lists from my present interns, I am more affirmed that the things that I have focused on in teaching my interns will and have equipped them to do ministry for a lifetime in the kingdom. In other words, I believe that they have learned things so that they can do ministry not just for the context of our youth group but for the eternal, universal kingdom of God.

Brooklyn Lindsey

I wrestle with the title of this slant, “the five best.” It sounds so final. Every intern has a different outcome in mind, and they also have different personalities. But there are some important and essential things that we’ve got to pass on. I’ve been chewing on this for a while. Then it occurred to me to ask my interns.

So that’s what I did. I asked my two most recent interns what they considered to be their best lessons and then made my comments (see italics). Consider this a slant within a slant. Three viewpoints in one. Right on.

Five Bests from Alexandra Burgess (Southeastern University):

Teach me to budget. Teach me to learn. Teach me to have a vision and express my vision. Teach me to be hands on and proactive. Teach me to lead and disciple.

1. I loved how you showed me your budget. I believe this is something interns often overlook, and I think it is stuff like this that is crucial to understand before entering ministry. Interns need to learn how to manage their ministries with integrity and creativity. Especially when it comes to budgets.

2. Give your interns opportunities to sit in on a youth workers’ conference or convention of some kind. Teach your interns to be learners. Cultivate their boldness and idealism while offering them opportunities to grow under the leadership of authors, speakers, ministers, and veterans.

3. I think youth pastors often leave their interns out in regards to their lesson planning and sharing their passion and ideas behind their series. You put it out there and really got everyone excited about it. Don’t forget to share why you do what you do, when you do it, or the importance of vision in ministry leadership.

4. I also liked the hands-on work that I got to do. Teach interns to do the work, make the calls, create a poster, or carve a pumpkin—whatever it is that you do, let them help you do it!

5. I think every intern should have the opportunity to lead a small group because that is definitely what impacted me the most. Ali was able to connect with her girls and get to know other students through her small group. She learned valuable lessons—on teaching God’s Word, thinking as a student would think, and planning her own mini youth group—that she’ll take with her into ministry.

Five Bests from Nathan Neihof (Kentucky Mountain Bible College):

Teach me to keep Jesus first. Teach me to plan and prepare. Teach me to build relationships. Teach me to lead together. Teach me to take time to study.

1. Keep Jesus at the forefront of everything. This has been modeled to me, and it was wonderful for me to see it lived out. I think many interns are looking for the real deal—people who live the way they say everyone else should live and humbly follow Christ.

2. Ministry doesn't evolve into excellence in the heat of a church service. I’ve learned that there is a lot of preparation, planning, and practicing that make ministry happen. Teach interns what it takes to plan ahead, pray over, and prepare well for the ministry ahead. There will always be surprises, and planning well gives them room to respond rather than react.

3. Relationships are key in ministry. My first week here, I was plugged into a small group. I got to know the guys, and they decided I was “cool.” When the first Wednesday night came, I was able to establish a group of guys who already decided I was approved, and this led to other guys giving me their approval. This is an echo from Ali. Teach your interns to be involved in small-group discipleship. There are multiple lessons to learn, and the rewards will keep them inspired.

4. Establish a core group of volunteers you can depend on and delegate leadership roles to those people. This makes your ministry more powerful in its outreach and expands the capacity of the amount of people one can minister to. It also makes ministry more enjoyable because you don't deal with all the stress of being the lone shepherd. Amen, well said!

5. It’s been vital for me to learn how to prepare and study. I have met a lot of pastors who don't spend a lot of time in study. Teach your interns to make time for God’s Word in their work schedules. If they don’t plan for it, it probably won’t happen. It’s the thing that will give them life as they minister to others.

Overall, teach interns your heart. Nothing will stick with them more than the expression of your call to ministry because it will help them to cultivate their own call. Teach them to fan into flame the gifts God has given them and to rely on others’ strengths for the gifts they lack. And, maybe most importantly, teach them to forgive. The church is full of humans who are all on a journey. There may be some pain, but God can and will use the hard spots to refine us as we find rest and purpose in him.

What are the most effective ways to recruit volunteers?

Jim Hampton

A little over a year ago, I was asked to speak at a church. I remember perusing the church bulletin and seeing this:

WANTED: VOLUNTEERS!
We DESPERATELY need volunteers to help with our children’s and youth ministries. No experience needed, just a willingness to sacrifice your time and money.
If interested, contact…

As I read that ad, I literally burst out laughing. My first thought was, Who in their right mind would respond to this?

So if this is not the proper manner, how should we go about recruiting volunteers? Let me offer some simple steps.

1. Pray. Far too often we skip this step, and yet it is the most important step we take. We need to seek God’s guidance before we start this task and allow him to guide us to the right people.

2. Know your needs. What exactly do you need the volunteers to do? Create a list of the roles and responsibilities you need for all areas of the youth ministry. Regularly refer to this list to make sure all your needs are covered.

3. Create and keep a list of potential volunteers. When you’re facing a crisis, that usually isn’t the best time to start thinking about volunteers. Create a list ahead of time of potential staff you are looking at to fill future needs. Use the church staff, current volunteers, and even your students to suggest names for this list.

4. Try to recruit a diverse team. The makeup of the volunteers should, in some way, be reflective of the makeup of the church. Look at issues such as race, age, sex, personal interests, etc. Too often we recruit only young adults, believing they will best be able to relate to adolescents. However, my experience has shown that having a mixture of young adults, middle adults, and even senior adults is desirable because each brings wisdom and life experience to the task.

5. Keep the congregation abreast of youth ministries. I operated on a simple principle: a bulletin or newsletter never left the church office without some mention of the youth ministry in it. I regularly asked the pastor for time in the service to recognize a teen or volunteer or to share with the congregation something positive that was occurring in our youth ministry. Then, when I had to go to them with a need, the response was always much more immediate because they were attuned to the good things the youth ministry was doing.

6. Get to know them and observe their character. This is more than just a job interview; you’re asking people to work with teenagers’ souls. Therefore, we need to make sure we are recruiting people who sincerely love God and are willing to follow your local church and/or denomination’s ethos for behavior.

7. Meet with the potential volunteers and share the vision for the youth ministry. Spend some time interviewing them and allow them to ask lots of questions. You want to make sure that they have as many of their questions as possible answered before they are working with the ministry so you don’t end up with a mess later. You also need to ask lots of questions in order to make sure this person is the one you want. Provide an information packet that details the overall vision and plan for the youth ministry and how the job you are recruiting them for fits into that vision.

8. Ask them to fill out an application to volunteer and agree to a criminal background check. This is becoming an ever more important issue as churches routinely face lawsuits from families whose children were abused in some way by volunteers who hadn’t been properly vetted by the local church. Make sure you are following the policy for your local church or denomination on this because each state has different requirements.

9. Provide a job description. Nothing frustrates volunteers more than not knowing what they are supposed to be doing. Make it explicit, and give them a time frame. You can always “re-up” them at the end of that time period, but they need to know that they aren’t committing to this for the rest of their lives!

10. Invite new volunteers to fill short-term, helping roles. This helps them get to know the kids well and discover whether this ministry is for them. Consider it a trying-out process for both you and them.

11. Train them! Give them the tools necessary to help them succeed. Pair them with experienced volunteers. Hold regular training sessions for all your volunteers. Suggest (or even provide) reading material for them. Encourage, challenge, and support them.

This list is not new. Variations of it have been at the core of good volunteer recruiting and training for centuries. The key is actually thinking far enough ahead to know what needs you have, the type of people required to meet the need, and the best way to recruit them to the mission. Using this list can be a major step forward in that process.

Brooklyn Lindsey

Bribe them!

Just kidding. Free stuff never hurts, but there’s a lot more to recruiting volunteers than giving away t-shirts at your latest ministry fair. Recruiting volunteer leaders is hard work. Volunteers are our most underrated asset—they lift the burden, they share our ministries, they listen to students—yet I often fail to give the ministry of recruitment the time and attention it deserves.

It’s one thing to recruit a bunch of people to attend a meeting; however, building relationships with people who have the potential to become great leaders within your ministry is a more intentional effort.

Recruiting volunteers requires intentionality and an honest desire to love, train, and nurture the people you bring onto your team.

An effective approach (at least in my ministry context) begins with changing the language. I like referring to the people we train in youth ministry as leaders rather than volunteers. Leadership says to our workers, “You’re in a position of influence” and, “We trust you.”

There are some general ideas that help us as we gather a team:

Be prepared. Planning a yearly ministry calendar with the leadership needs listed at the beginning of each year has helped us recruit early. Do a church-wide emphasis for youth volunteer leaders and fill in the positions. Doing this helps us see where the holes are and pay specific attention to those areas further out. Sometimes all we need is a few extra days to recruit, pray, train, and lead!

Carving out specific times in our week to pay attention to volunteer leaders is a priority. This time is used to make phone calls, ask questions, pray, do background checks, schedule training, and plan team-building opportunities. Making time for leaders is huge.

We spend time focusing on the great leaders we’ve got. It’s good to show them that we are worthy of their time investment by giving them clear instructions, setting goals for them, training and equipping them well, showing our continual appreciation, and clearly communicating the mission and vision of our ministry. They will bloom and be fulfilled in their rolls. Eventually, their growth in ministry will be visible to others, attracting them to our tribe.

Then we’ve got to dial in on finding new recruits.

We begin by looking for parents who will partner with us in ministry. Many parents want to be a part of their children’s spiritual development, but most don’t know how to do that. Encourage their involvement in the experiential sides of ministry (trips, serving others, worship) and give them specific assignments. This helps relieve them of defaulting to “helicopter parenting” during the ministry and frees them to serve in important roles.

Next, we look to the great volunteer leaders in the church body. Most likely, each of them will have their own network of adults. Like tends to attract like, and we may be able to connect with some great leaders this way. We also don’t want to make the mistake of overlooking the young adults and senior adults in our church. Some of the most wise and patient leaders come from these two populations in our church. We like to attend our senior adult ministry events to build relationships with those who still have so much to share with our students.

And we can never forget to look to God. I started praying for workers for my ministry about three years ago. Praying about something on a continual basis keeps us mindful of the need. When I’m mindful that we have a great need for a leader in a certain area, I’m constantly looking for that person. Conversations tend to bring solutions or connections to people who have them. Don’t underestimate God’s ability to bring in a harvest of workers.

Dave Rahn

I started my ministry while I was in college as the volunteer leader of a Campus Life outreach ministry at the nearby high school. It has probably never been easier to recruit others to join me than when my life was most like theirs.

Friends who travel in similar circles as you are the best prospects for your volunteer team. They know who you are, see what the ministry feels like through their relationship with you, and are often wired to care about the same kind of things you do. The recruitment conversation can be pretty short: “Wanna join me?” Spell out the expectations of the mission you’ll be bonded to so that there’s no confusion that what it takes to do ministry side by side is considerably different from simply hanging out together.

As you lock in with some stellar volunteers, you might also ask them who would fit your team and could help you invest in kids. The sharpest adult leaders know what it takes to deliver excellent ministry and are often as devoted as you are to having the right team in place. Their referrals are gold.

I’m convinced that there’s nothing quite so attractive as a band of brothers and sisters who are committed to each other and compelled by the same cause. Enthusiasm is high, and relational heroism is common. Looking for ways to be together publicly so that others can observe your chemistry is a fabulous recruitment billboard. After you’ve been doing ministry for a while, the people most likely to be drawn to join your elite (not exclusive) cadre will be those students who have seen the team laugh, cry, pray, and serve together. Ministry alums simply need to be coached about the work that’s needed to accomplish the cool outcomes they experienced when they were younger. They are already familiar with the vision, which is a huge benefit.

I’ve recruited from Christian colleges, secular universities, and large churches to meet my need for good volunteers. In those settings, more than what I’ve previously described, recruitment tools that help you communicate your ministry vision clearly are critical assets. Remember that your values are reflected in such tools, so make sure that they describe your ministry as you want to be represented.

You might also find success at drawing in some interested folks by using giveaways or free food. But when you use such tactics to get someone’s attention, you need to be extra diligent in your screening—people who come in the front door because of goodies can be party-hoppers and need to be checked out to see if their motivation will sustain them through the challenging demands of youth ministry.

A page out of Jesus’ playbook seems worth reflecting on. He tossed out wide invitations to follow him and got the chance to sort out those who had what it took for ministry as he watched them over time. Layering our recruitment with similar windows for observation has always made a lot of sense to me.

What are the essential aspects of leading change in a youth ministry?

Chris Folmsbee

Leading change is a priority skill for any effective leader. Change happens (whether forced by natural processes or birthed by intentional and innovative thinking), and therefore, leaders must know how to adapt to it and lead through it.

In my opinion, this is one of the greatest challenges facing any youth worker. Often the need or desire for change is desperately required but the skill set to make change and lead others into and through change is lacking.

There are several key components to leading change. First, leading change requires a leader who listens carefully. Before change is executed (or while it is happening around you), take intentional and specific time to listen to responses to questions such as the following:

·   What is God saying to me? To others?

·   What is my heart saying?

·   What are others saying?

Determining the pace at which you lead change should be proportional to the surrounding environment and the many elements that make that culture what it is. Listen carefully as you lead change, or it can quickly get out beyond your grasp, causing the process to get off on the wrong foot.

Second, leading change requires that you develop a team of others who can help you navigate and lead. Seeking a team of people who share in a new vision and the responsibilities necessary because of the new vision is imperative. At times it will feel like you can do it on your own or that it would be easier to do it on your own. Don’t fall prey like so many others to that line of thinking. Resist the temptation to lead on your own. Develop a community of people (doesn’t have to be a big one!) to help you lead and who can support and encourage you and test your ideas, etc.

Third, let the team you assemble shape the vision. Don’t make the mistake of inviting others into the process of helping you lead change and then not give them a chance to shape the way the change is made. This obviously doesn’t mean that you give in to other perspectives or opinions that may take you away from the very things you observed and learned as you listened carefully to the surrounding environment. However, it does mean that you must give others the opportunity to refine the vision in a way that allows everyone to buy in.

Fourth, chart the course or develop the strategic plan to move ahead through the change. I run into a lot of youth workers who do the three things above rather well, but when it comes to sticking to a plan, they’ve forgotten to develop a plan to begin with. From A to Z, determine as best as you can what the appropriate and applicable steps are to make change. Obviously, this plan must be flexible and adaptable.

Fifth, you need to actually put the plan to work. Again, the plan is there to help you navigate through change. However, regardless of how good the plan is, if it isn’t acted upon, it’s a failed plan. Have the courage to listen carefully, develop a team, cast a vision, set a plan, and then actually make the plan work for you.

Finally, leading effective change requires that you track progress and assess your leadership. Effective change may mean that your original plan needs to change or that the roles certain people are playing on the team need to switch or the vision originally crafted needs to be stated in another way. Whatever the adjustment, you can’t make it if you are not willing to authentically track the progress and assess your own leadership.
The bottom line is this. To lead change is a skill that every leader needs to develop and refine. The way you lead change at one time will be different than another time, most likely. So be open to change and let it change you as you change it. You will be a better leader if you can respond proactively to change as opposed to reactively.

Lilly Lewin

Change. Sometimes it needs to happen fast, like firing a leader or volunteer who is inappropriate or ending a program that has passed its prime. But in reality, even those things need to be handled more slowly than we want to.

When I began as the director of Christian Formation at Christ Church, a formal liturgical church, I had just come from a contemporary mega church. I didn’t really understand or know their language or their church culture. I had to slow down and pay attention, which is often frustrating to someone who likes to hit the ground running and get things done.

It takes two years to learn a church culture and four years in a place before the people believe you are really one of them. Then the “old crowd” will put their trust in your ideas and in you!

What does that mean for change? Take baby steps. We have to use the What About Bob? strategy. What About Bob? is an old Bill Murray movie where he plays a lovable psych patient who must learn to take “baby steps” in order to grow and change.

Most of us don’t like baby steps. Most of us like taking big leaps forward because we can see and feel how far behind we are and/or all the possibilities of what could be. (Remember that all churches are behind regardless of their flavor).

In order to see change, we must take a long, slow, deep breath and first learn the culture of our place. When I got to Christ Church, I didn’t have a clue what the senior warden did or what an undercroft was or why the prayer book was so important. I couldn’t stand the curriculum, and I didn’t know if any of my Sunday school teachers had a relationship with Jesus because they expressed it so differently from my contemporary church friends. I had to take the time to learn and actually care about what was important to them. I had to get to know the people and place.

If you are just starting at a new place, leave things alone for a year! In order to see change happen, become a part of the place. It has to be “your” church, not “their” church.

If you want to change things, start by praying.

·   Pray for people to go with you.

·   Pray for favor with parents, leaders, students.

·   Honor the people who disagree. That’s really tough.

Build relationships with key people. If we take the time to build relationships, we are more likely to be successful in whatever change we want to lead.

Whom do I need to build a friendship with who needs to “get” what I’m talking about? Who has influence that can help the change or stop it in its tracks? I don’t mean that you should manipulate people. I mean take the time to get to know people in your congregation—your staff members, your parent and team leaders, board members, etc. They are important to your ministry—as important as the kids in some ways. If they know you and know your heart and “get” your passion, then you will have a platform to share your ideas.

At his very first church, when John Maxwell was in his twenties, he made a point to take every board member out to lunch and get to know them personally. It changed his ministry. The board members became his friends rather than his enemies.

Discuss change. Don’t just do it. If you begin change without building the people’s trust in advance, you will find you are frustrated or fired before the second year. It’s like dating. You have to date your church before you propose. You have to woo them before you ask them to be different or go down a different path. Remember, in reality, only God can change other people. You can only change yourself.

Getting to know your church people means knowing their fears, their dreams, and why they do the things they do. You can see what roadblocks have stopped others and the ones that might stop you. Sometimes you may even have to learn a new language before you can communicate to those you want to lead. I had to learn to speak Episcopalian.

Ask yourself hard questions:

·   Why do I think this needs to happen?

·   What are my motives for change?

·   Is this God’s idea or yours? Ask God to show you what he wants to change.

·   Are you willing to compromise anywhere in your plans?

·   Can you move incrementally versus scraping the whole thing?

Keep taking baby steps! Know that even after you’ve built relationships and even after you’ve prayed, there will still be people who don’t agree with you. There will still be naysayers who aren’t on your side. That’s normal. Just keep showing them compassion and keep praying.

If you have done your homework, taken baby steps, prayed, and spent the time to become a part of the community, you will have more peace in the midst of your ministry and know that God is at work in the changes for the long haul.

Dave Rahn

Change is the artistic skill required of leaders. Widely effective leaders have learned to wield their creativity in multiple settings and with a variety of audiences.

Those of us in youth ministry commonly concentrate our energies on the transformation that Jesus Christ brings about in the lives of the young people with whom we work. That is, for most of us, the energizing payoff that we signed on for. The more we understand how to cooperate with the Holy Spirit to bring about this sort of miraculous change, the more fruit we can expect from our ministries. I don’t want to sneeze at this most significant of changes.

In Youth for Christ, we want our ministry site leaders to practice what we call the 5 Essentials. These biblically derived principles are intended to bring about the changes we all care most about; they are true whether we are working with students through Campus Life or with teens locked up in jail in our Juvenile Justice Ministries. In a nutshell, we want our leaders to enlist lots of people in frequent and specific prayer for our work.

We want to initiate uncommonly loving relationships with teens by pursuing them and engaging them in their world. We believe that in our Dr. Phil, advice-giving culture, we need to do a better job of teaching God’s Word and coaching kids to apply it in their lives. Much prayer, much love, much use of Scripture—these three Essentials bring about Spirit-graced life change for would-be followers of Jesus Christ.

The remaining two Essentials call us into a different kind of ministry site leadership. We ask our staff to be catalysts for collaboration among churches and like-minded partners in hundreds of communities around the country. Our goal is to help bring about the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17—that which testifies to the reality of the one true God in our midst. Together we hope to raise indigenous young leaders and empower them to multiply their influence. Both of these Essentials bring about change of another order—they aspire to reshape the very fabric of a community, something very different from helping individual teens through prayer, love, or teaching the Bible.

It requires an unusual vision to see how local churches can operate beyond their existing parish boundaries to come through as the body of Christ on behalf of young people who are far from God. Those who lead change that mobilizes other people must possess an inspiring vision and compelling character.

For example, humility positions leaders with the attitudes needed to listen and learn from others. In our YFC culture, we need to appreciate diversity of perspectives and others’ uniquely valuable contributions. Many who work in churches realize that they activate a willingness to change among parents and congregational stakeholders after they demonstrate a willingness to hear concerns, accommodate additional dreams, and even adjust their timelines so that there is genuine buy-in for the directional change being advocated.

Youth ministry is most simple when it represents a transaction between two people. “You wanna help me change?” a kid might ask. Permission granted.

But just try to drop the weekend retreat your church has “always” done from your schedule one year. Efforts like these reveal that there is always a definable group of people whose ownership is necessary for change to take place. Effective leaders see who needs to be on board, recognize what flexibility is necessary to secure their support, and bend like weeds to seal the deal.

Pure artistry.

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