If you’ve been in youth ministry a while, think about to when you first started working in a church, did you discover some resistance to your new ideas? How long did it take you before you figured out you were working in system that didn’t favor new or innovative ideas?
Part of the reason new youth pastors get discouraged and defeated is because they thought they were coming into the church to reach the next generation only to find out there was a road block to called the status quo. It is this kind of disillusionment, along with many other issues, that have created a youth pastor shortage.
Now, I can’t do anything about the multitude of other issues, but I can try my best to explain why new youth pastors get discouraged and how they can navigate the road blocks ahead to their new ideas.
I recently listened to an episode of the podcast Design Better and I wish I heard this quote before starting in youth ministry,
“Your relationships are just as important as your ideas. Because your ideas can’t go anywhere without the medium of the relationship of engineers and financiers and project managers. Without them, you’ll be a frustrated designer with good ideas that don’t go anywhere.” – Scott Berkun: Why Design is Hard
I took a lot away from this episode and have done my best to translate the principles I heard into a Youth Pastor context. I truly see the role of a youth pastor as a designer and the process I am about to describe to you is how you get your ideas launched.
Allow me to frame the church, and your position in particular, as if you were a designer in a software firm or toy company.
You are the designer, the one with the big ideas. You have enthusiasm but no way to bring your ideas to life, alone. You need engineers (the board or committee) finance managers (budget people, your pastor or whoever signs check or approves of having checks signed) and project manager, who will likely be your pastor.
But, I’m Creative, why aren’t people paying attention to me?
You may say, “But Paul, I’m the most creative person in my church, I’m special, I got these kind of creative superpowers, why aren’t people paying attention to me?” Easy, that’s because you’re caught in an ego trap. You think your idea alone will people’s attention and approval. Without relationships, you can’t pay for or justify the cost of your idea even if your idea costs nothing.
No youth pastor gets cart blanche on their ideas/budget. Just a like a designer in a large company has to pitch ideas to get approval and move along to the next step, so do you. The next step for designers, are the engineers and the engineers in the church world are the board or committee that is over you.
They are the ones you have to convince that your idea, program, etc. is worth it. You have to be able to answer the questions
- Why is this important?
- What will justify a change?
- Can you do this cheaper?
- Can you do this with less disruption?
Assume Your Church Will De Dysfunctional
Do people work in your church? Then it will likely be dysfunctional and you, as a “designer have to be aware of that. You have to see your church from 30,000 feet and see who all the players are who stand between (not against) that idea that will get more students comings, make more disciples, etc.
Once you can see the playing field better, you can navigate all the obstacles to getting your idea approved.
Understanding the Beast
One thing new youth pastor overlook is how a church is actually structured. If you’re new, al l you can see it potential growth, life with students, etc. The reality is that your church is made up of power structures and political structures and they suffer from two things when it come to your idea and that is a lack of knowledge and a lack of enthusiasm both of which you are in charge of supplying.
In other words, you need to have more influence with your engineers, financiers and project managers.
What is influence?
Influence is leading directly or indirectly. Who do you have pull with and how do you get that pull?
If you are a new youth pastor, you have to show that your ideas work. You have to build a track record. This doesn’t mean just a track record of student attendance or how popular an event was.
Building influence takes time and require you to pay attention to details, like
*showing up on time
*listening more than contributing (but you must contribute, some)
*be a team player
*collaborating with other ministries
*seeking to see the whole church succeed and not just your ministry
If you want to read about more practices that will help you build influence, read this article.
Why you have to explain youth ministry to your church
Talent alone is not enough to get your ideas through the fog of ignorance and apathy.
Ask yourself:
- When was the last time your Pastor did youth ministry, if ever?
- When was the last time they spoke to the youth in a meeting or even the hallway?
- Do any of the board or committee leaders have teenagers in their house?
If most of answers to these questions is no/never/none, then you are the Chief Education Officer as it applies culture and where that culture might be heading. I’m not saying you should push the information you know about teens but you do have to find ways to bring this information, to the right people in a creative and non-threatening way. Why?
Because the people you are making your pitch to are the ones have say so as to whether your idea, your design, gets approval. They have no idea about teenagers other than what they hear on the news or read in certain e-mails, etc. part of gaining influence is making sure they hear this significant information, in regards to your ideas/program, from you.
Remember, when you are approaching “engineers”, “financiers” and “project managers”, you are looking for influence not superiority.
This is part one of a series on how new youth pastors, or old ones for that matter, can get things done in the church, then subscribe to my newsletter and get these articles in your inbox.