How to Fail at Youth Ministry Networking Before You Start

Failing at a youth ministry network is very easy and requires only a few things many youth leaders already do!

(Hi, I’m Chris, the youth pastor down the street from Nick’s church.)

Nick and I have been working on this project for some time now, discussing ideas and sharing dreams and vision and I have yet to contribute to our blog. Fail.

Well, we have finally arrived at my first opportunity to share some of my own thoughts with the greater community than just our local body of youth pastors that have been trying to kick-start something bigger than ourselves in Sunland-Tujunga.  I hope that my mistakes will help you learn what not to do.

So how do you fail (in epic fashion of course) before you even begin your youth ministry network?  The answer is simple and if you follow these steps, you are sure to never move outside of your walls let alone get to the point where you are even discussing an idea.

1. Stay So Busy You Hardly Have Time to Breathe.

This is where I am most guilty and I think that many other youth pastors are in this same boat.  We have so many items on our plates (not just one).  Camps, retreats, leadership training, recruiting leaders, selling parents ideas, phone calls, cleaning up the mess, leading worship, doing some crazy media stuff… and that is probably just the tip of the iceberg!

How to eliminate some of these things are for another blog at another time, but if this cycle continues, you can rest assured you won’t have the opportunity to step into the batters box for a chance to get things started.

2. Stay Inside of Your Comfort Zone.

I just started my stride, got my schedule down to a science and I’m finally able to keep my head above water.  Now you want me to change that all around and work with some other youth pastor? Yep.

Or maybe: I’m not a very outgoing talkative person. What am I going to say? That other youth pastor seems much more confident than I am…

If God wanted you to be comfortable, He wouldn’t have asked you to be a youth pastor.   If you aren’t being stretched then you aren’t growing and being a youth pastor is more than just growing students, its about growing yourself as well.  If we stick to what’s comfortable, we become like that saying many of us use when we compare Christians to stagnant water.

Proverbs 27:17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” This applies mentally as well.  Some of the ideas that Nick and I have come up with are much better than things we would have come up with on our own.  Also, working together with our differences helps each other see things maybe the other has missed in regards to our cultural context.

3. Stay Competitive

Although I personally believe competition is good in many circumstances, there is no place for it within the parts of the body.  When are we going to get past this idea that it’s my church vs. their church, my ministry vs. theirs?

First, this mindset is very selfish. When I give into this mindset, I am transitioning from a Kingdom of God mentality to a Kingdom of Chris(me, not Christ) mentality.

Second, it leads to personal comparisons.  Sorry to say, unless your one of those Youth Specialties guys, you are always going to be measured wanting… (just kidding Adam!)  It’s not about who’s better, it’s about bringing what you have to the table.  Nick has strengths that I don’t, and I have strengths that he doesn’t.  He’s better at some things, I’m better at others, but together, we combine our strengths and do something better together than we would have done alone.

Now what?

Get over yourself and get out of God’s way.

Here are some practical ways to do this:

• Reduce your workload
• Recruit volunteers and empower them
• Step outside of your comfort zone (Sooner or later, meeting with that other youth pastor will be comfortable enough.)
• Allow a relationship to form (Let it be organic without an agenda.)
• Hang out with each other (ORGANIC)
• Create a sense of safety
• Share dreams and hurts

Look at it this way.  You are on the same journey and already have something in common.  Why not take that journey with someone instead of alone?