As your volunteers learn and grow, they will begin to exhibit characteristics that will identify them as effective volunteers. While not an exhaustive list, the following characteristics are the kinds of traits you want to see in your volunteer team:

• Good listening skills
• Empathy for teen perspectives on life
• Enjoyment of working with other teenagers
• Solid spiritual, emotional, and relational foundations in their own lives
• Patient, flexible, and affirming
• Perseverent
• Principled, but not judgmental
• Good relational skills
• A sense of humor
• Dependable

Set specific standards for leaders in your youth ministry. While your staff can be made up of people with various gifts, abilities, and personality styles, it shouldn’t be open to just anyone. The quality of your ministry will depend upon your ability to develop, articulate, and positively enforce your standards for what constitutes a qualified youth leader.

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To “vet” is to make a careful examination of something or someone. When it comes to finding youth ministry volunteers you need to both vet your program as well as your prospective volunteers. It also makes a handy acronym for three crucial components of working with volunteers in youth ministry:

Vision
Expectations
Training

Vision: Have a vision for your youth Ministry.

People are best recruited to a vision, not just a job. Help your prospective volunteers to see their responsibilities as a means to an end, not an end in themselves. Help them to see that they are a meaningful part of a team that is fulfilling Gods purpose among your youth. What you are excited about in your youth ministry that you can share with potential volunteers. What are the benefits and “payoffs” you can share? Present your vision of youth ministry and why volunteer leaders are needed in fulfilling that dream.

Expectations: Clearly outline your expectations.

• Be honest about what you expect, about time demands, and responsibilities. While we often want leaders badly, we should not minimize the responsibilities. Trust that God will provide people who will be able to rise to the needs of the ministry.
• Create a variety of positions and roles to match the needs of your ministry with the variety of gifts, talents, and interests of volunteers and considering the amount of time each volunteer has to offer.
• Make a list of all tasks that need to be done to achieve a successful youth program, regardless of the size of the task or the significance along with the time required for each to be accomplished.
• Prioritize – rate them according to importance and whether they are required or optional. Some tasks may be ad hoc and other tasks may require someone to fill a position for a predetermined length of time in order to fulfill them.
• Develop job descriptions for your leaders that summarize expectations and provide estimates of how much time it will take to fulfill their particular responsibilities.
• Make a list of those ad hoc, or event specific roles that could be handled without a long term commitment. Those who cannot commit to long term service might be able to take on a specific event, project or task on an ad hoc basis.

Be clear about what kinds of people you are looking for. The old acronym F.A.T. suggest that you should look for people who are:

Faithful
Available
Teachable

It is important that they are faithful both to Christ and to the youth ministry. They need to be available and ready to commit a portion of their availability to the youth ministry. And finally, they need to have a teachable spirit. They should see themselves as both teacher and student, leader and follower.

Train, Nurture, and Support

Adequately prepare your new volunteers for service and then continue to train them and provide a supportive and nurturing environment.

• I DO -YOU WATCH
  (Observed leadership)
• I DO – YOU DO
  (Shared leadership)
• YOU DO – I WATCH
  (Trained leadership)
• YOU DO – I GO DO SOMETHING ELSE
  (Owned Leadership)

This model requires time to train and develop your volunteers. It also needs to me personalized for each volunteer as they each will need varying amounts of time to work through the process based upon experience, gifts, and familiarity with the youth and youth program. Some can move to owned leadership in a relatively short time, while others will take much longer. Be patient. As long as there is a love for youth, it is worth the efforts to nurture them in this journey! There are also many good volunteers who have no desire to function at the owned leadership level. Remember that training is not just dispensing information to a group of people; it’s helping people to develop into servants who are more effective in their ministry with youth.

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Insecurity
We may feel like we are imposing on others, or that others might think we are less than capable if we ask for help.

Lone Rangers Mentality
Remember, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto. It takes work to recruit, develop, and train and maintain a healthy volunteer team. Sometimes it seems easier to simply do things ourselves. As it says in Ephesians 4:11-12, the job of a leader in the Church is to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry”. The word “equip” means “to make strong, ready, and prepared for action”. Its out job, not just to do by example, but also to equip.

Control
We have less control when we give it away to others. Our youth ministry volunteers may not do the job the same way we would do it. It may be done differently, or not as well as we would do it–but it may be done even better! The best Youth leaders don’t demand carbon copies of themselves, but instead develop the unique gifts and talents of their volunteers to their fullest potential in ministering to the youth they serve.

Role Confusion
Volunteers need guidance and more importantly support until they learn the ropes. They will have a lot of uncertainty and need a lot of encouragement. Their expectations of results can be unrealistic and they may doubt their gifts and their ability to serve the youth. Clear expectations, procedures and systems for handling common issues, and carefully defined roles go along way toward helping to alleviate their uncertainty.

Shortsightedness
It may seem easier to do it ourselves, rather than hassle with finding leaders, training them, supervising them, etc. But if we don’t, we’re virtually guaranteeing ourselves a short-lived ministry. We’ll just burn out.

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• They can develop relationships with kids that you would not be able to reach on your own.
• They can model a variety of personality styles and expressions of faith and devotion to God for your youth.
• They can reveal the biblical model for team ministry. Although Jesus’ mission was to reach out to all people, he spent the majority of his time with his twelve disciples.
• They will energize and motivate one another.
• You will be encouraged both by the tasks your volunteers accomplish and the personal support they can provide.

Have you experienced other benefits? If so add a comment with your own observations…

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Should you involve volunteers in youth ministry?

Are you doing the work of ministry to youth by yourself or do you involve others? And what roles do you delegate to others? One of the common misconceptions is that you involve others to do those jobs that you don’t like to do – as a chance to lighten your workload of the meaningless and time consuming tasks so that you can focus on the REAL ministry! This is a big mistake!

1. You need to involve volunteers in meaningful ministry opportunities!
2. It’s likely that involving others will take as much time, if not more time, rather than less time.

So why involve others?

Today’s youth are multi-faceted, and come from a variety of backgrounds, family situations, and personal experiences. They have numerous interests and a wide range of needs. To meet these diverse needs and engage the varied interests of youth, you need a team of volunteers with multiple gifts, of various personality types, and with diverse life experiences — all with a common love for God and youth. A successful youth ministry helps teens by building relationships with caring, growing Christians who can share God’s love with them.

Too often we think that since we are the youth minister, we have to be the leader and do everything ourselves. Many churches have the same idea – that they hire a youth minister to take care of their youth with the expectation that he will do everything needed.

Moses had the same misconception. You can find him struggling with this same issue in Numbers 11:10-17. He complained to God because he felt overwhelmed with the responsibility of leading God’s people. The work was never ending and the time was never enough! It seemed his position demanded more than he had to give. If you have been in youth ministry for any period of time, you know how he was feeling!

Moses asked the LORD, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant… If this is how you are going to treat me, put me to death right now…”

In Exodus 18:18-23, Jethro, the father in law of Moses” went to him and said, “What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. ..Select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men… —and appoint them over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens…That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

The needs in your ministry, no matter what size your group, will always exceed your ability to meet those needs. Our first reliance should be upon God’s provision. But it should not stop there…we need to involve others in meaningful ministry as well.

When you share the burden with others your load may not be lightened, but your ministry WILL be multiplied.

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If students are to develop to their fullest potential as leaders, we must be willing to take five basic steps to assist them in the process:

1. Hear them out. Surveys, forum discussions, and other feedback times will help us learn about students’ needs and where they can be stretched and challenged.
2. Use them. We need to give them responsibilities that they can handle so that they come to their group, not our group.
3. Affirm them. Students are much more likely to keep on taking responsibility (and to rebound from failures) when they know our affirmation and encouragement. We must be careful not to take our student leaders for granted.
4. Let them testify. The best way to recruit more student leaders is to let those who have served as leaders tell others about how they have grown through the experience of leadership.
5. Be a facilitator. When students start to lead on their own, our jobs will change from omnipresent leader to facilitator. When students start their own small groups or host their own socials, we may no longer be needed at these meetings. Our students will need only our advice about how to lead. When we come to this point, we can rejoice, for we will know that they own the program.

Source: Organizing Your Youth Ministry

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How To Avoid Gridlock And Give Your Youth Ministry The Green Light

Sometimes in youth ministry it feels like being stuck at a red light with cars on the left and right. Nothing is moving! Frustrated drivers honk their horns! There’s no apparent way to move forward, nowhere to go. In every direction, for as far your eyes can see, there are obstacles to your progress. Sound familiar?

Here are 5 top tips to avoid the jams and give your youth ministry the green light to move forward:

1. Add alternative routes.

Over time, we find the programs, the routines, and the ways of doing things that work well for us, and it makes sense to keep using them. Don’t abandon these unless they have become dead ends. You know these roads will eventually get you to where you need to go! If they seem a little slow at times, simply take advantage of the situation to listen to the music on the radio and enjoy the time away from the fast lane.

But don’t get too reliant on just one way. If you know your destination clearly, there are often many ways to get there. Add alternative routes to the tried and trusted ones. There are times you may need to add and focus on a different lane for a while. When you open up new lanes and routes for ministry you increase your breadth and can actually move more people into a closer relationship with God.

2. Keep your vehicle in prime condition.

If your vehicle is leaking water, is out of gas, and in desperate need of a tune up, then when you approach any kind of difficulties on the roads, it’s going to quickly breakdown. It’s the same with your youth ministry and your personal spiritual life. Make sure you have routine maintenance of your personal spiritual life. Time behind the wheel is not a substitute! Don’t wait for things to break down before you get your personal spiritual life back in tune!

3. Stay informed of the conditions.

On the roads, if you stay tuned in to the latest traffic announcements, you can avoid trouble spots before you get caught up in them. Are you looking ahead? Are you tuned in? Do you respond? God not only knows the road ahead but the best route to your destination. When you are tuned in to what lies ahead you can make adjustments earlier and your journey will be smoother.

4. Be prepared.

Anytime you take a trip it pays to take a little water for the radiator, a spare tire, and a gas can. Breakdowns WILL happen. Accidents do take place. Be ready for them and your journey will be a lot less stressful. The key is to anticipate potential problems and make sure you have the necessary resources to deal with them WHEN they occur. But preparation is not just having the resources, but also a plan to deal with difficulties. Don’t forget to include something to keep things fun and interesting while you do what it takes to get moving again.

5. Support others on the same roads.

Helping others traveling a similar spiritual journey can be very rewarding and actually inspire and add a spark to your own ministry. If you saw a family stuck in their car in the sweltering sun with no water and you had extra, you could reach out and offer them some of yours. Carry a pair of jumper cables as you never know who might need a jump start You could provide the spark that gets their engine running again and their ministry moving forward. Brainstorm some options you could take to support fellow youth leaders around you.

Use these 5 tips to help your youth ministry moving along, even when the conditions become more difficult and obstacles start to appear.

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Based upon the book: Purpose-Driven® Youth Ministry

PEOPLE
This perspective helps you identify the potential audience of students within and outside your youth fellowship. Knowing a student’s level of commitment enables you to design purpose driven programs specially meant to reach then and fulfill the biblical purposes of your ministry.

A COMMUNITY student is committed to not attending church – they are living apart from Jesus.
A CROWD student is committed to attending church – they are hearing about Jesus.
A CONGREGATION student is in a small group – they have a relationship with Jesus and other Christians.
A COMMITTED student is committed to spiritual habits – they are growing in Jesus.
A CORE student is committed to doing ministry – they are serving because of Jesus.

PROCESS
This practical process for students enables you to reach them for Jesus, connect them with other believers, help them grow in their faith, and challenge them to discover their ministry and honor God with their life.

This Transferable Strategy for Purpose-Driven® Youth Ministry is a process for moving students from living apart from Jesus to serving Jesus and sharing Him with others.

REACH students for Christ (Evangelism)
CONNECT them with other believers (Fellowship)
Help them GROW in their faith (Discipleship)
Challenge them to DEVELOP their gifts (Ministry)
HONOR God with their life (Worship)

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Do you evaluate your youth program simply by the numbers attending? What is a good measurement? It’s something to think about. How do you evaluate the effectiveness of your youth program?

Here are some other options…. YOU DECIDE!

• By church activity participation?
• By the fruits of the spirit displayed by the youth? (Gal 5:22-23)
• By comparison to your own spiritual development?
• By how Christlike they are? (I Cor 11:1)
• By the fact that they have grown in their faith, making visible progress?
• By the way they treat others?
• By what they talk about most?
• By their priorities?
• By how they respond to me when I bring up spiritual things?
• By spiritual depth?
• By consistent spiritual disciplines like Bible reading, quiet times, prayer?
• By the types of questions they ask?
• By feedback from parents?
• By their service to others and in church?
• By spiritual knowledge?

OTHERS? Share your comments..
.

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