Ongoing service ministry at home is one of the most rewarding and life-changing events we can do. I know that and hopefully you do as well. Knowing this, wanting this, making this a priority is one thing. Actually doing it is another.
If you are like me, anytime I hear a speaker or read an article by a person on a particula subject I assume they have it all together in their particular area. I may be clearly aware this is not necessarily true but my default is to think otherwise. Full disclosure: In this area our ministry does not have it all together. We are great about sending out effective international missions teams on a regular basis but on the local level not so great.
A gut-level, honest evaluation of our own youth ministry would show we are presently teetering toward a lack of ongoing service ministry. We are engaged in some service ministry but why are we not doing more? This is a question I regularly ask. I highly value th experience and fruit of this particular ministry. There is no lack of motivation for making it happen. Santa Barbara area students regularly interact with upper-middle to upper class people. They, maybe more than most, need extra amounts of service activity to keep them grounded as servant-leaders for Christ.
I want to offer a few reasons we find it hard to sustain healthy ongoing service ministry and then a few strategies that work when we finally get students involved.
Challenges in doing service ministry
1) Lack of time – I strongly believe “we do what we want to do.” If somebody were to offer you a free trip to some exotic location three weeks from now most, if not all of us, would scramble like never before to make it happen. Ultimately we find the time. While lack of time is a weak excuse it is nonetheless used by youth and leaders. There have been several opportunities
over the years I have canceled because of small to no interest. Often these have been related to “when” the service event was to happen. Recently I have come upon a great opportunity to work with developmentally disabled teenagers on a Friday night once every two weeks. Is this an excuse to not do it? No. Is this a reality? Yes.
2) Lack of opportunities – There are plenty of ways to serve out there and certainly plenty of needs. The difficulty is in finding good ones into which we can “plug-in” without having minimum numbers and skills. I understand the need for both of these yet it is discouraging to the youth leader to spend hours begging and pleading a particular number or type of students to sign up before the event can even happen. I’m not blaming anybody for their lack of flexibility, it’s not an excuse. It’s a reality and a challenge.
3) Lack of cheerleaders – We cannot be “lone ranger” youth pastors. This is understood. There are any number of ministry areas we would want to care for effectively. We cannot care for all them successfully on our own. I have parents/leaders, like you, who champion certain parts of the ministry and do well in that capacity. I count on them. I have many people in the larger church and parents who love it when they see our youth serving the Lord in the community but lately I have not had a leader or parent to step up and help us do more. This presents a challenge to me as I desire to see more service opportunities but am limited in how much I can offer.
Workable Strategies
1) Make it natural – Our best service ministries are those that naturally flow out of our relationships with others in the church or community. We do well at serving in the life of the church through Vacation Bible schools, dinners, all-church community clean-ups and individual service/work opportunities. We also have done work for the elderly in our church and our local Christian college. These are natural connections with known relationships. There we find higher motivation and built-in trust.
2) Offer flexible opportunities – Presenting as many service times as possible and at different times provides a more viable option for youth involvement. If they can’t come one time maybe they can come another. When we do this we have had greater participation.
3) Keep it important – I have found it is easy to relegate serving others to a lesser priority even though I believe otherwise. In reality it should be held in balance with Bible study, discipleship and every other part of the ministry we may think more crucial to the spiritual development of our youth.
May we all commit to keep looking for service and servants.
[Photo by: B Tal]
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Doug is going on 30 years in youth ministry at the Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara.
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