9. Thou shalt not be a solo act. Don’t build the ministry around yourself. If you do, the ministry dies when you leave. Focus on building and training solid volunteers who can do ministry just as effectively as you can. Function as an adult team leader even more than you function as a youth leader. You can’t possibly reach every kid in your community, but with a strong team of qualified individuals, you multiply yourself and your reach goes a lot further than it would otherwise. If you find that you do more than 80% of the total work load for your ministry, you’re doing too much. For larger youth groups, that percentage should drop for you, too. Delegate. Train. Equip. Guide. And whatever you do, don’t be a control freak. Give your volunteers the freedom to maybe not do as well as you could on their first or second try. (I find that most of them actually do better than me!) The old cliché is true: work yourself out of a job.

Posted on September 4, 2007