Posted by Kurt Johnston
This is the 5th in a little series about some of the things that have helped me last for almost 25 years. There is no silver bullet here, just a little insight about things that have seemed to make a difference in my journey as a youth worker.
BLEED IT, BUT DON’T BLEED TO DEATH!
Every now and then, a young youth worker will say something like this, “Youth ministry is my life!”. To which I always reply internally, and upon occasion even blurt out, “Really? That’s too bad.”
I think youth ministry, or any ministry endeavor for that matter, deserves some extra effort. Youth ministry isn’t for folks who are clock-watchers, who only want to do the minimum job requirements. I actually think it deserves to be led by men and women who aren’t afraid to “bleed” it a little bit. But we should NEVER bleed to death!
– When you consistently sacrifice your family for the sake of your youth ministry…you are bleeding to death.
– When your friendships suffer because you spend too much time at youth ministry events…you are bleeding to death.
– When you have no outside hobbies because you spend your free time with teenagers or planning events for teenagers…you are bleeding to death.
– When you fail to take your day off, or you skimp on vacation time due to the demands of youth ministry…you are bleeding to death.
– When you spend time in the word out of the need to prepare lessons rather than out of a love for the Father…you are bleeding to death.
I like to think I bleed junior high ministry. But because it isn’t my life, and because I want to last for the long haul I refuse to let it bleed me to death.
This is a great post, and something that I’ve only started learning the past couple of years. After being in student ministry for 13 years now I can finally say the ministry isn’t bleeding me to death!
Great thought Kurt thx for sharing – One of the things that I use to help from bleeding to death is to protect days off. There are times where I can’t have days off but even when that happens I find ways to make up those lost days off. I look at days off as I look at the pay check I get and the perks I’m offered – something that has to happen.