Challenging Normal

Life is all about relationships and what you do with them. Your relationship with Jesus and the people around you. The same is true in Youth Ministry. Relationships are key to the success of the ministry that God has called you to. You have to have a healthy relationship with God, you HAVE to have a healthy relationship with your spouse, but there is one more relationship that is very important for you to have a successful Youth Ministry. A healthy relationship with your Senior/Lead Pastor.

The relationship a Youth Ministry has with his Pastor may be the most important relationship that he or she has inside the church. The Pastor is the one that God has given the vision to so the local church can reach the community that God has placed them in. It is the Youth Pastor's responsibility to do what they can to help see that vision become a reality. A strained relationship between the Pastor and Youth Pastor can affect not only the Youth Ministry but the entire church.

Over the last ten years I have worked with six different Pastors that have had six different visions and lead in six different ways. Some of those relationships have been good ones and some not so good. I have learned unique things from each of them. What to do and what not to do.

Before I share some tips to strengthen your relationship with your Pastor let me say that I have the privilege to work with an awesome man of God. He is a great Pastor and a good friend. He has an awesome vision for the church and I am honored to get an opportunity to help see it become a reality. That being said, here are some tips:

Know your Pastor's vision - ask them on a regular basis what their vision is and how you can help them see it become a reality.

Know your Pastor - get to know them. Who they are, what makes them tick. Find out what they like and do not like. It helps you serve them better. It will help you stay a step ahead of them.

Become accountable to your Pastor - accountability is giving information before it is needed. It is your responsibility to ask your Pastor to hold you accountable in your spiritual and sometimes personal life.

Communicate, communicate, COMMUNICATE - it is your responsibility to keep the channels of communication open. Tell your Pastor everything, run everything by them. The worse thing you could do is allow them to be caught off guard by hearing something somewhere else they should have heard from you first.

Always have your Pastor's back - whether you agree with them or not, it is your responsibility to protect them. They will make a decision that people do not a agree with. Sooner or later those people will come to you. Do not entertain that conversation.

Serve your Pastor and their family - find ways to make your Pastor and their family's life better. Constantly ask what you can do to help, what you can do for them. Find small ways to serve them, bring them coffee, buy them books, whatever you feel is best.

Pray for your Pastor - if you are not praying for your Pastor on a regular basis then you do not want to see them succeed. If they do not succeed you do not succeed. Try taking one day a week and pray very specifically for them. Ask them how you can pray for them.