Youth Ministry Falsehood #8: You must be wild and crazy and a kid magnet

I’ve been told over the years that I have a bit of craziness in me.  It comes out in general on trips when I have an large amount of free time and am spending a ton of extended time with students.  There are appropriate times for this kind of ministry.  We do an event every year for our 5-6th graders which basically ends in a huge shaving cream war.  A similar thing happens on a Middle School event. Come to think of it most of our fun events seem to end with me covered in shaving cream.

But there is a lot more to ministry than just being wild and crazy.  In fact sometimes being crazy is what hurts your ministry the most.  I’m a parent of three kids.  I want my kids to have fun at church and I appreciate leaders with energy but I’m also a bit leery of leaders who sometimes clearly don’t know how to shut it down.  Like I said above there are appropriate times for it but sometimes it gets in the way.

Being a kid magnet is sometimes a great thing and helpful in ministry.  Who doesn’t want to feel like kids want to hang out with you and without trying to hard they come to you. But, there is also a great place in ministry for the man or woman who  is consistent, regular and prepared.  For someone who week in and week out has proved that they will always be there and students know that they can always turn to them.

I had a volunteer who was a part our ministry early on in California.  I haven’t worked with him in 13 years. But, every year without fail he calls us on our anniversary.  This year I happened to post that on Facebook and a whole bunch of people commented that he does the same thing for them.  That’s an amazing testimony to commitment.

There are times in ministry that all of us need to break free of our comfort zone. For me I have to “gear up” and get ready for events.  It’s literally almost like a locker room talk that I give myself before an event. I mentally think through how I need to act and the energy I need to have in order to make sure that students have a good time.  Of course afterwards I’m a wreck and tired but generally it’s worth it.

How do you do it?

Youth Ministry Falsehoods.

1. You must be with students 24/7
2. You must be young
3. You must be single/married
4. You must be irresponsible and fly by the Seat of your Pants
5. You must be theologically trained
6. You must be an extrovert
7. You must a great upfront communicator
8. You must be wild and crazy and a kid magnet
9. You must be willing to be poor
10. You must want to be a “real” pastor some day