JasonCurlee.com

This post is to all the youth pastors and youth workers in the audience.

Prior to becoming a campus pastor, my wife and I were in youth ministry for 14 years.

I thought I’d leave some some advice to former peers. As a youth pastor, I took my calling seriously. Our vision was the vision the Lord gave the church: Go and make disciples.

We worked hard on making our youth ministries a place where teens would want to bring their friends…in mass. We tripled our youth ministry in one year twice at two different churches. We even have some teens that have gone on into ministry.

Here goes:

1. Do Your Job With Pride
2. Support Your Pastor
3. Show Up On Time
4. You’re Not A Teen Anymore…Act Like It
5. Plan, Plan, Plan
6. Stay Cutting Edge
7. You Don’t Have To Fart To Make A Point
8. Be An Example To Your Teens
9. Learn To Communicate With Excellence
10. You Don’t Have To Play Games To Reach Them
11. Prepare For The Next Level Now
12. Speak Their Language…But Not Their Slang
13. Show Them How Much You Care…Not How Much You Know
14. Spend Time With Your Family If You Have One
15. You Are More Than A Baby-sitter
16. You Can’t Do It By Yourself, Recruit
17. Treat Your Position With Respect
18. Pour Into The Lives Of Your Leaders First
19. Replace Yourself
20. Give Your Teens Ownership Of The Ministry
21. Transition From Group Mentality To Ministry Mentality
22. There Are Lots Of Teens Not Going To Heaven….REACH THEM
23. You Don’t Have To Say “Crap” To Reach Them
24. Our Purpose – Make Disciples
25. Work On Your Systems Or They Will Work You
26. Ultimately…The Teens Are Your Pastors…Not Yours
27. You Are There To Partner With Parents
28. Raise Your Teens To Be Leaders
29. Don’t Preach Down To Teens Preach Up
30. Don’t Make It All About You
31. Don’t Be Fooled If It Falls Apart When You Leave It’s Not Always Your Fault
32. Call And Meet Other Youth Pastors In Your Area
33. Be Real…They Can Spot A Fake A Mile Away
34. Empower Your Leaders To Lead
35. Protect Your Pastor
36. Build Teams To Do More
37. It Takes Three To Five Years To See Fruit From Your Work
38. Cast Vision
39. Sometimes You Must Fight For Your Families Time
40. Did I Already Say – ACT YOUR AGE
41. Don’t Be Afraid To Share The Stage With Your Leaders
42. Your Vision Is The Same As The Vision Of Your Church
43. Don’t Make Your Ministry A Silo
44. Work Hard But Work Smart
45. Work Like It’s All You, Pray Like It’s All God

Nutshell: Youth Ministry is a calling…treat it as such. You don’t have to act like a teen to reach them…but you do need to reach them where they are. Build a team so you can be more productive. Create systems that will make your ministry more effective. Spend more time with your family if you have one…lose them and it doesn’t matter how many teens you have reached. Show up…show up on time…but more into it when you are there than you think you can. Plan your ministry and work your plan. Pray hard. Lean on God.

For more student ministry content check out: Triple Your Youth Ministry