- We believe that our youth leader needs spiritual support in their work with young people.
- We promise to pray for our youth leader and make supporting their spiritual life a high priority.
What does your youth leader need to do their job well?
Answering that question, you might make a list that includes recruiting a good number of other volunteers to help, perhaps a dedicated youth room in the church and, of course, some money to spend from the church budget.
But it’s important to remember that the spiritual support the church gives to the youth leader is vital too. A common phrase to remember in ministry is that, “we can’t give away what we don’t have ourselves.” A church can not only focus on the spiritual growth and prayer needs of the youth, but must come alongside the youth leader in those areas as well.
A youth leader’s spiritual health is vital to having a healthy youth ministry in your church.
Praying for your youth worker
Many youth leaders will prefer you to concentrate on praying for young people rather than themselves, but the church should do both! Too many youth leaders burn out or struggle with personal issues without anyone knowing what’s going on. Praying for them isn’t the only solution, but it’s a good start.
As you will want to pray for your youth leader publicly, perhaps in a service or at church prayer meetings, that won’t always be appropriate for sharing certain issues.
For more personal prayer, you may want to encourage other contexts where smaller groups or individuals can pray and support your youth leader. Some of the congregation who don’t see themselves as able to help as a volunteer with the youth work, may find this a great way to contribute.
Helping your youth worker stay spiritually healthy
Whether it’s a small group that your youth leader is not expected to lead, or an evening of worship and prayer for church leadership, it is so important to have things in place to feed your youth leader and keep them growing in their walk with God.
It may also be helpful to encourage your youth leader to have someone in their life from outside of your local church with whom they can share regularly about their own spiritual journey and pray about whatever is on their mind. That gives the chance to talk openly about things without worrying about how the church will react, and can often nip personal spiritual struggles in the bud before they become a problem for the ministry. This person could be a youth leader in another church, an accountability partner, or even someone who is trained/experienced in spiritual direction or supporting and listening to people. Whoever they are, they need to be someone the leader trusts and can be open to about their journey.
Questions to consider
- Does your church have anything in place that serves to meet the spiritual needs of the youth leader?
- Is there an appropriate and confidential context for the youth leader to share any struggles or needs and to ask for personal prayer?
- How do you actively encourage and challenge your youth leader to take time to strengthen their own faith?
Ideas to help you meet this promise
- Require your youth leader to participate in a worship service or a prayer or small group of which they are not the key leader.
- Start a regular email prayer update for the youth ministry and include prayer requests from the youth leader as well as praying for young people.
- Bless your youth leader by paying for them to attend a Christian conference or ministry event (distinctly separate from youth ministry) for their own spiritual nourishment.
What your church needs to do
- The church needs to plan to take two actions in the coming year related to this promise. Those actions do not necessarily need to be the suggestions made above. They can also include things that the church has already done previously and is planning to continue to do in the coming year.
