How to Survive and Thrive in Student Ministry
Prayer and daily time with the Father are the only way to survive beyond the beginner stage of Student Ministry. The beginner stage is usually 3 years. The only way to survive beyond the veteran status is prayer, daily time and volunteer leadership. This is usually around the five years mark. Becoming an equipper of the saints is the only hope of passing the seven-year mark. People consider you exceptionally tenured if you make it this far. Every young youth minister dreams of making a huge impact. They want to see loads of students come to know Christ as savior. The best gift you can give yourself is alone time with the Father, time in the word, and commitment to developing volunteer leadership.
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
For more resources or to assess your student ministry, go to smeonline.net/excel.