Happy Deep Year!

Happy 2006 everyone! 2005 was a really encouraging year for us and we’re eager to embrace the new year. I’ve been pondering new year thoughts and one of the things that came of it was the following. I write regularly for
Group's Church Volunteer Central. My column is directed at Youth Pastors/Leaders who lead a volunteer staff.

Here’s some excerpts from my January column:

Happy Deep Year

“Happy New Year!” is what we say this time of year. We certainly want the new year be happy. And what makes another year happy? A NEW one, of course. People are obsessed with “new.” Get an iPod this Christmas and watch us want the new one the next.

Similarly, youth ministry gets caught up in the same obsession. Check the mail that comes across your desk, go to a youth ministry conference, or surf the web and get buried with new and improved youth ministry programs, events, retreats, curriculums, fundraisers, books, magazines, wristbands, Bibles, videos… okay you get the point. I realize I’m preaching to the choir.

It’s easy to point the finger at the youth ministry machine that generates more new youth ministry stuff. But maybe it’s time to point in our direction at our own addiction. I’ll admit that I’m a sucker for the new and improved. The reality is that, ministry isn’t about new and improved. It’s more about going deeper.

When it comes to leading our volunteers, I’m convinced that we need to go deeper instead of newer.

If I can get personal for a second, my observation is that one reason we don’t take our leaders (or ministries) deeper, is because we’re not going deeper ourselves. The adage that you can only take someone where you’ve been applies here. As ministry leaders, we have a responsibility to be going deeper, embracing reading, pursuing formation, and stretching ourselves. Sooner or later we have to admit that we cannot lead or shepherd off the fumes of passion, raw talent, or social coolness. We must go deeper.

From another angle (and this might be equally as personal), I think we can be fearful to go deeper with our volunteers for fear that we’ll lose them. Keep the bar low and we keep the volunteer. Raise it too high and we’ll lose them. We have to see that, unless we take volunteers deeper, we’re losing them anyway. Volunteers will become lost in uninformed serving, underdeveloped gifts, or myopic vision. I think volunteers want more yet don’t always know what they want or are afraid to ask for anything beyond programming advice. We must remember that we are pastors to our volunteers as much as we are to our students.

So in this new year, we’re actually halfway through the school year. It’s time to go deeper… Happy Deep Year.

Admittedly, there’s no silver bullet for going deeper any more than there’s one for your program. Your context and your leadership team are unique and your leaders are at varying stages of development. The task of the youth pastor is an art form for leading the group deeper. We might start considering the following:

For myself, how am I growing personally?

What books am I reading lately?
For every current book I read, I try to read two “older” or “supporting” books. I also try to read different genres (biography, novel, theological, poetry, historical, etc.) as this helps me grow in my skill and appreciation of reading and understanding.

What am I writing lately?
One of the most helpful ways for me to grow is to write. Consider writing a regular newsletter that has less to do with logistics and more to do with your current thoughts and reflections. Keep a personal journal and commit to regularly write in it. Start a blog. These activities force us to regularly assimilate our reading, thoughts, experiences drawing conclusions and raising more questions for us to pursue. Writing makes us learners.

What blogs am I reading lately?
I ask this with a caution: Blog addiction can be time consuming. Pick 5 blogs and follow the conversation. Interact with the authors and learn in dialogue.

Who’s mentoring me?
This can feel more like a dagger than a question for many young pastors. Many have told me that they feel alone and un-mentored. Seek out someone who can lead you and push you in your own personal growth, spiritual disciplines, and formation.

If this all sounds self-absorbed, remember that your team is dependent on your own depth. Study and prayer are part of our jobs, not extra curricular.

So it’s a new year. We hope it will be happy. We need it to be deep. This is the essence of Christian sanctification. “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen” (2 Peter 3.18).

Happy deep year, friends. May it be more deep than new...