Richard Nixon said, “Defeat doesn’t finish a man, quit does. A man is not finished when he’s defeated. He’s finished when he quits.”
In the same way those of us who lead youth ministries in the Calvary Chapel movement should be careful to never stop trying to improve in our ministry and our leadership. We should always be looking at what we can do better. When leaders give up on this and begin to settle into a routine, their contentment slowly transforms into complacency. This complacency hits like a disease; ministries begin to decay like cavities that have not received care in a long time. They may still function and look ok, but at the core of the ministry the lackadaisical attitude eats away at the root. Youth ministry leaders must determine in their heart to be consistently seeking out ways to be better at what they do for the Lord.
A huge part of being successful in youth ministry is to set goals! It is easy for youth leaders to pass off these goals with spiritual clichés such as “love people” or “reach students.” These are truly great ministry goals overall, but youth leaders should strive to have much more measurable goals for their ministry. A great resource to help you set spiritual goals for your students is 4 Chair Discipleship.
So often we look to fulfill what we see other churches doing or try to copy the latest fads instead of seeing what the Lord would have us do. The Lord is the one who helps us to set the goals of our ministry. Our job is to do our best to reach those goals, and to inspire those God has given to us to help. Take a moment to pray today that the Lord would help you to set measurable, simple goals for the ministry that you lead. That way, when you achieve those goals you can celebrate what the Lord is doing!
If you desire to grow in your leadership one of the ways you can do that is through our Youth Ministry degree program at Calvary Chapel University. In the Youth Ministry Degree we offer a fully online university to encourage you in your ministry calling by allowing you to pursue ministry while attending a Christian college to study youth ministry. For more information visit CalvaryChapelUniversity.edu