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Small church pastors are busy balancing lots of priorities. Where should the pastor’s role in children and youth ministry fit in the picture? Whether you’re the pastor or the volunteer, keep reading to learn:
- Why prioritizing children and youth matter even if you have only 2.
- How excellence in kids ministry can lead to greater adult involvement.
- Actionable tips on how to get your pastor’s ear and more support for the youth program.
- Encouragement for small church pastors and ministry leaders everywhere.
Understanding A Pastors’ Schedule
For a lot of pastors, Sunday is a fun day. It’s a day to be surrounded by people who are coming to be encouraged and empowered. It’s a time for fellowship and laughter and tears all in one. Contrary to what a lot of people think, a lot of the work of a pastor actually gets done Tuesday through Saturday. So what does that work look like throughout the week?
For Ryan David Sims, a community pastor in southern California, the work throughout the week includes taking on the responsibility of connecting with the community and handling the community challenges.
Working On Building The Fundamentals
It’s hard to hear your pastor say that they aren’t on board with an idea you had, and it’s hard to really know why they even said no in the first place. Sims thoughtfully points out that if your pastor isn’t seeing you working the fundamentals of your ministry area, it’s hard for them to trust you with the big things too.
As ministry leaders, we are quick to hop on new ideas that will bring more children or youth into our programs. There’s a hope that if I do that one thing, everything else will fall into place. However, I think we might’ve missed a step or two!
Finding Out Your Pastors’ Vision
Oftentimes, we make assumptions about the pastor’s vision or that they’re visionless, but this isn’t true! Take the time to learn more about the vision for your church and, more specifically, your ministry. Once you start to see the vision of your church, pastor, and ministry, you can really start to innovate. It’s so important, to first learn the pastor’s vision, and once you’ve gotten to a place of expertise in what is required for your role in ministry, you can be innovative in children’s and youth ministry.
Communicating With Your Pastor
Get To Know Your Pastor
You have to know your pastor enough in order to know how to communicate with them. Sometimes, we want to communicate with people in the same way that we communicate. This works a lot when you’re talking to a friend or an acquaintance, but when you’re talking to someone with the goal of getting them excited and passionate about your ideas for your ministry, we might need to take a different approach.
Some people love hearing about the big ideas, the potential, and the passion for one’s goal. Other people need to see a plan, specific details, or a schematic of how something would work. The conversation would need to be approached differently depending on who you’re talking to. So get to know how your pastor communicates and thinks!
Schedule A Time To Meet
This is a very functional approach. Schedule an appointment to have a meeting about whatever it is you want to discuss. By scheduling a time to meet, you’re letting them know that what you have to say is important and it means a lot to you, meaning it should mean a lot to them. You could start it by saying, “I would love to have a conversation with you about an idea I have for the ministry. Could we schedule a time to talk about it?”
It’s as easy as that!
Show The Value Of Your Idea
In the business world, I’ve learned that there are two things that your idea has to do: save time or save money. In church, the question(s) you should be asking about your ideas are:
- Does it idea bring resources to the church?
- Does it bring people to the church?
- Does it build up the people in the church?
When speaking with your pastor about your idea, I want to encourage you to compile all the facts, all the data, and all the intricacies you can before you go into the meeting. This will show them not only how passionate and dedicated you are to implementing this idea, but also why and how your idea will impact your ministry and/or the church as a whole!
Why Is The Pastor’s Role In Children And Youth Ministry Important?
Pastors should care about the young people of the church. Collectively, churches across the globe are raising and discipling the next generation of leaders in the church. We can’t afford to not focus on them. If they’re going to be the ones to build the next generation of churches, by avoiding them, you’re essentially saying that you’re okay with the church dying.
We make time for things that are meaningful and keep us going. Youth ministry has to be that thing.
Children’s and youth ministry should be the priority of any church! If you have kids going to church, you’ll have parents. If you have parents in your church, you’ll start having women in women’s ministry, and men in your men’s ministry. The youth are the backbone of our churches.
Read More:
Cultivating Kindness In Children’s Ministry: 3 Key Strategies
