5. Thou shalt invest into students lives on an individual basis. Don’t assume someone else is doing it or that the student doesn’t really want it. Even in larger youth groups, pick a couple kids and pour your life into them. If critics arise who accuse you of playing favorites, remember it’s better to give a few students individual godly attention than no one at all. Don’t let the fear of critics paralyze your ministry. And if, in a worst case scenario, there are kids who are jealous and demand for your time, that’s great! Bring ‘em on! Ensure that volunteers are doing the same with everyone else. Whatever you do, don’t get so wrapped up in administrative crud that there’s no time for personal time with kids. They don’t care what you do in the office all day or if your Sunday school lesson isn’t too deep this week. If your actions don’t prove that you have a personal interest in them, they won’t be listening anyway.
Categorized | Youth Ministry
Ten commandments for surviving in youth ministry (5 of 10)
Posted on August 13, 2007 by Tim Schmoyer | 
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Free Youth Ministry Resources » 10 Commandments of Youth Ministry (#5) Says:
August 14th, 2007 at 5:48 pm[...] want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!Today’s thought is taken directly from this site, which is a great little blog about youth ministry. [...]
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Handling volunteers who are too busy for kids | Life in Student Ministry Says:
March 4th, 2008 at 11:20 pm[...] You’re message indicates that you’re wise enough not to do #1 and you’ve already figured out that #2 doesn’t work, so it sounds like #3 is the best option you have left. If you don’t have enough leaders to be able to invest into every student individually, then you’ll have to start with a couple yourself and pour your life into them. Don’t worry about the critics who accuse you of playing favorites. Read about that here. [...]
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About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, Dana, and together we live in Minnesota where I serve as the youth pastor at our local church. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my church. More about me...
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August 14th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Great advice once again! This is one that I’m most passionate about when it comes to the ministry. You can check out my feedback to this post on my latest blog post “My call is to invest in lives.”
August 14th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
i think this is the most important one on the list! if you live life in a Godly way, spending time with your teens in a one on one situation (or one on several) is one of the best ways to teach them what the Christian life is really like. they get to see it in action, which is way better than any lesson any of us can ever teach!
http://youthministry.fatkidrecords.com
August 31st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
I agree this is important, however i think it matters if some students are being left out. Your actions of leaving some students out will only prove you have no personal interest in them! This is an area of ministry and should be planned so no students feels left out.