Aaron Faucett  Minister of Youth Bible Baptist Church Wilmington, Ohio

2. Motivating workers

• Have a vision. Proverbs 29:18 - without it, the people will perish (and so will your workers)

• From the outside looking in for the average worker, there is a lot of scary stuff that happens in youth groups. Tennis baseball, duck egg slurping contests, shaving cream fights, and programs that do not have anything to do with sharing the gospel, or do they? Some activities give lonely and left out kids the chance to be cheered on. Other games force kids to work together and build unity. If workers understand the why of the youth ministry’s vision, it becomes a lot less about them and a lot more about the kids. Now that’s being Jesus.

• Don’t be afraid to show appreciation through non prompted texts, cards, or gifts at Christmas time. Always listen to their ideas because God has given them gifts and talents that the youth pastor may be lacking. This will only strengthen the leadership team as a whole. We highly encourage participation in activities to keep our workers young and let them blow off a little steam when needed. Laughter is medicine to the soul so enjoy serving the Lord.

3. Retaining workers

• Balance. A Pastor once taught me to be very aware of a worker’s temperature gauge. Are they too hot or are they too cold? Are you burning them out or are you sitting them out? Are two of the workers doing 100% of the work while the others are sitting off to the side?

• Romans 12:6-8 speaks of the spiritual gifts a believer has soI have workers take the spiritual gift test. Once I have the results, then we develop a plan of where they can passionately utilize that gift to give them a sense of ownership. This may include being a game planner, attendance taker/outreach, teacher, or a ruler whois always thinking ahead for the youth pastor in ways of administration and planning.

• Occasionally a worker will need time to refresh or renew because of a possible circumstance that took place outside of church. Dedicated workers will sometimes go until there’s nothing left. We in ministry know the dangers of that so remember we are also called to minister to not just the students, but the workers as well.

Workers are such a blessing in any ministry. Leading others to Jesus while being like Jesus has to be the primary focus at all times. I pray this is the heartbeat of your workers and to God be the glory for He is worthy.

afaucett@bbcwilmington.org