Bogged Down By Busy: How the Right Curriculum Can Be Freeing for Your Ministry

How often do you hear the phrase “I’m just so busy right now,” “I’m swamped,” or even “I’m just keeping busy” as an indication of how someone is doing? On the flip side, how often are we the ones who are swamped with busy schedules? Whether you’re hearing someone complain about their busyness or you’re the one who is lauding your overbooked calendar, we know one thing to be true: busy schedules are a reality across today’s society.

Whether you’re a full-time youth minister, bi-vocational, or volunteering simply because you love students, the reality is that your plate is full. Ministry is hard work and comes with a lot of responsibilities. You’ve got to balance the discipleship of many students, plan events, manage budgets, tend to your personal spiritual growth, and countless other roles that are asked of you. You are busy and, odds are, you’ll never stop being busy.

One of the big roles that you have as a youth worker is the weekly Bible study times that your ministry has together. You’re responsible for managing what is taught, the scope of what direction you’re taking the students, and the administration of the leaders teaching the material. I know, it’s a lot. But, as the one who is pastoring that group, you’re responsible for ensuring that they’re getting discipled by faithful teaching of the Word of God week in and week out.

It may seem easiest to write your own lessons each week. Since it’s you who is creating the material, it’s guaranteed to be something you can trust, right? You might even have a seminary degree that has trained you to do just that!

But, as we’ve already established, time is a very limited resource for all of us. We can’t add time to our days to ensure we get everything done- the sun will always set, and the day will always end. So we must, as Paul encourages in Ephesians 5, make the best use of every second we have. We need to decide: do we want to spend our time writing out and planning curriculum? Or is there a better solution that frees us up to do more?

Moments like this are the exact reason why pre-written curriculum can be such a game changer for youth ministries. Bible study curriculum gives youth ministers a foundation to build from when it comes to their weekly discipleship strategy. It gives you an easy plan to offer to your volunteers so that you both are on the same page. It gives your ministry a consistent path to success. Ultimately, Bible study curriculum is the starting point to a successful and liberated youth ministry!

If you’re like me, you don’t like being stuck to a manuscript. You might even be concerned that relying on a curriculum could make you lazy or cause you to be a less than capable minister. That’s far from the truth! Many youth workers use curriculum as a starting point, taking the content and the long-term topic plan as their guide, and allow their personal study and creativity to influence and edit some of the specifics of the content. You can still do ministry your way while allowing a curriculum to help make life easier!

            There are countless things that utilizing biblical curriculum in your ministry will free you up to do. Now that you’re not hulled up in your office writing or studying, you’ve got more time to catch one of your students’ games or events! You’ve got the freedom to meet with the parent that is struggling and offer them encouragement. You’ve got the bandwidth to step away from the office for a bit and spend time with your family. Simply put, using a trusted curriculum gives you space to breath in your ministry work.

Where do we go from here? In the end, you know your ministry and your personal gifts better than anyone else. However, I’d encourage you to examine a couple things, and once you do that evaluate whether curriculum could be a benefit to your ministry.

First, examine where most of your time and energy is being spent in relation to your ministry. Are you balanced in your study and your relational ministry, or are you hidden away in your office week after week preparing the next lesson?

Secondly, observe the way your teaching style sets you up for the long haul. Is the way your weekly teaching set up allowing for you to guide your group toward a long-term plan, or are you scrambling to figure out where to take them next?

Finally, reflect on your own personal ministry work and your spiritual health during it. Is your style of preparation and work beneficial to a life of balance, peace, and work that’s worshipful? Or is your heart and head filled with stress and worry about getting the next thing done?

If the latter in any of these three things connect with you, maybe it’s time to consider something new. Trusting a curriculum is a big step of faith- but when you find the right one for your group, it can do wonders for how much time you have to invest in the areas of ministry your heart truly lies.