Youth Co-leadership
I have been serving in youth co-leadership alongside my youth leaders at the time since the age of 16 years old. We were about 3 or 4 co-leaders running alongside our youth leaders. We basically helped in every regard from Praise and Worship to the laying out of ice-breakers. We worked the hardest, in both the behind the scenes and where everything was visible.
Learning from these experiences I have a few things to mention.
1. Submission is a great deal
You ought to submit under your leader's/s' instruction because you are in the "training process". Whatever they decide is most probably the best decision for both the leadership and the youth group. You do get those moments where some laws they lay down don't make sense, but 99% of the time they have a reason for their madness.
2. Watch and learn
Watch and learning is essential if you are in the position of co-leading. You watch to learn from both their secrets and their mistakes. Then you build on what you have observed. You can take the secrets and run with it, and then improve on the things your youth leadership struggles with.
3. You are there to make things enjoyable
You bring the excitement and the enjoyable vibe. 9 out of 10 times your youth leadership are dealing with the hectic leadership levelled issues like rebuking, correction, teaching, equipping etc. You in turn are the more hands on, assisting, bringing the "fire" and being the party to the rest. In all this, you are still hard at work, just in a different manner.
4. You are your leaders protection
As a youth co-leader, you are most probably going to hear stuff about your leaders that is not being heard by your youth leader's/s' ears. However, always remember that your loyalty is to your youth leadership. Always protect their names and their reputation. If they are wrong in some sense, approach them with love and raise the issues, but do not indulge in gossip for this will sow seeds of division.
5. Bring your A-game
Always come with the proper attitude. Come with an optimistic attitude that will help make the process lighter and done with joy. Punctuation is key. If your youth leaders assigned you as the praise and worship leader of the youth, then you ought to take full responsibility thereof. They would not issue you with a responsibility if they didn't think you were capable of running with the task. Another thing, you always have to be creative when it comes to young people and your ideas. Remember you are dealing with a group of people who love the difference of the normality of life.
Youth leadership
Kim Walker-Smith mentions in one interview that there are two things that shapes who you are. One is marriage and the other is being in youth leadership. I have only been in youth leadership to say for a few months, but I can touch on a few things that I have observed and what I have experienced.
1. This is now your ministry
If you find yourself in youth leadership you have to ask yourself if you are really passionate about this ministry. If you are not, chances are that the young people would feel that you are not in this for them and it would not be enjoyable for them. Secondly, when the time comes when you feel like giving up, it would be easier to resist that feeling because you know your desired outcome. Always stay on your toes and think out of the box. Never repeat the cycle twice or thrice. Keep them wanting more.
2. You have to have vision
Have crazy vision when it comes to young people. Youth want to have a challenge to live by, something they can fight to achieve. Growing up in youth, our youth leaders would put down totals and drill it to us at youth. "We want to see 50 people by the end of July" and we took the mission with both hands. We watched videos about bringing in the harvest, we prayed about the harvest, God led us into the field to get the harvest. If young people have nothing to work to, guess what? They will work towards nothing.
3. Raise up leaders
One of the reasons why you are leading people is to raise them up as leaders. That is your fruit right there. How many people have you invested in? How many people ate from the food in your hand so to speak? We need to raise up leaders to raise up more leaders. The process never stops.
4. Who is investing into your life?
As a youth leader or youth pastor, you have never arrived to a place where you cannot be mentored. There is always going to be new things, strategies and methods to learn. Who is investing into your life as a youth leader? Who are you accountable to? Can you say that you have a go-to couple of leaders that you can confide in? As you invest in other lives, make sure someone is investing in you.
5. Be the role model the youth never had
They are watching you in every sense. All your bad stuff and all your good stuff. Back in the day we had to watch how we lived because we knew people who looked up to us were watching. These days you have to consider whatever you put out on social media too. So if you are preaching about not listening to that secular music on a Friday, then sharing about the new Eminem album during the week, then somehow there is a big problem. Be a role model in conduct, speech and in every other way possible. The sheep does folloe the shepherd, so model what you want them to do. You serve, they serve. You fight, they fight.
6. Never show any sense of favouritism
Favouritism will kill your vision. Whether it is towards a youth co-leader or a family member, make sure you look and treat everyone with the same attitude. May everyone receive the same effort, the same acknowledgement and you will see how much your youth group will grow.
7. Cultivate culture
Make sure that you cultivate a culture you want to see - with love of course. If you are working towards a certain type of culture in your youth group, then you have to push with love till you see that culture build. Make sure your culture is a celebratory culture of substance and growth. A place where young people can be themselves and have someone to speak to.
All these are but a few things I have learned over the past few years. What I can conclude by saying is that youth want to be loved. They want a place where they can be themselves without judgement or criticism. They want to have a voice to voice their hurt and struggles, even their opinions. It is not an easy ministry and will take a lot from you and out of you. So make sure that you have deposited spiritually and creatively inside so that you always have something fresh to give. Remember to carry the power they need and the relevance they seek.
Also remember that there is a dying world out there who seeks to be filled till they are satisfied and who desires the freedom we have. It is our duty to show them this freedom, to show them this love. Never forget why you doing this, you doing it for God and for His people.
John 21:16
New International Version
Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
Shalom.
(Like my page on Facebook for more detail: Rowyn Coetzee)
No comments:
Post a Comment