Celebrating Small Wins

It’s easy to celebrate the big wins: salvations, baptisms, record attendance, new leaders stepping up, the stuff that makes it to our churches' social media feed. Those are incredible moments that deserve to be celebrated, but we often forget to celebrate the small wins. Here’s what I’ve come to learn: if I only celebrate the highlight reel moments that make it to social media, I’ll miss the majority of what God is actually doing in my ministries, and I’ll slowly lead myself down a path of burnout by always trying to perform. Maybe that’s you, too.

Here are some small wins I’ve been able to celebrate this past year. I’m sharing them in hopes that they’ll encourage you to slow down and recognize similar moments in your own ministry:

• Students joining a serve team, growing alongside the church as a whole.
• Students leading a Sunday stage announcement time with me.
• Students starting Christian clubs in their school and asking for advice from their leaders on what and how to share.
• Students inviting their “one” to church, that’s someone close to them but far from Jesus.
• Parents reaching out for advice and guidance on how to disciple their students at home.

These might not make an Instagram story on our church main page, but they’re real signs of growth, and indicators that discipleship is happening, that students are taking ownership of their faith, and that families are moving closer to Jesus.

WHY CELEBRATING SMALL WINS MATTERS

1. Small Wins Keep You from Burning Out

For me, it’s easy to walk into a planning meeting and get overwhelmed by projected numbers, camp attendance goals, new groups to launch, or baptism targets. If I only focus on hitting those goals and forget to celebrate the small wins, I’ll burn out fast. Some days, I’ll leave ministry programming asking myself, “Did I even make a difference tonight?” But I’m learning how to spot and celebrate the small wins to remind myself that the Spirit is still working, even in the midweek lull. On those tough days, I’ve made it a goal to find at least one small win to celebrate. Maybe it’s a student stepping out of their comfort zone to open the service in prayer. Maybe it’s my middle school boys group going over time because the conversation was actually fruitful for once (you’ve been there). Small wins like that are proof that God is moving, even when it doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet or make an All Staff meeting highlight.

2. Small Wins Encourage Your Team

Your volunteers need reminders that their efforts are not in vain. If I feel those days that are voids, I know our leaders do sometimes as well. Each week before our student programming, we have a short leader huddle to encourage our volunteers and pray together. During that meeting, I try to share a few encouraging things I’ve seen that my leaders can also celebrate. I’ll celebrate a leader who connected with a quiet student, affirm a leader who helped set up without being asked, and always recognize their faithfulness as leaders by showing up to shepherd the next generation.

3. Small Wins Build Long-Term Momentum

When someone asked me what I love about my job, one thing I say is seeing a packed room full of hype and crazy student games and worship. However, I learned early that those moments are important, but they aren’t what carry my ministry. What really moves things forward are the faithful, unseen, small wins that happen each week. When we slow down and celebrate the small wins like a student inviting a friend, a leader showing initiative, or a parent starting to engage, we’re not just recognizing progress; we’re building a culture. Recognizing those small wins often reminds everyone involved that spiritual growth isn’t always flashy, but faithful. Ministry should be built on faithfulness, not just big events and hype. When that’s recognized, that’s where things start to make a difference.

4. Small Wins Reflect the Heart of Jesus

Jesus noticed the one, the overlooked, the ordinary, and the people that others passed by. He didn’t measure success by crowd size. Jesus paused for the woman who touched His cloak. He called Zacchaeus down from a tree. He noticed the widow who gave two small coins. Over and over, He showed us that faithfulness outweighs the flashy in the Kingdom. If Jesus didn’t overlook the small stuff, neither should we. When we celebrate a student praying out loud for the first time, a leader showing up even when their week was chaotic, or a parent asking how to disciple their student at home, we’re aligning ourselves with the heart of Jesus.

Final Encouragement

Again, for me, there have been plenty of seasons where I felt like I wasn’t “winning.” Just this year, numbers have been down, I’ve been fatigued from having a baby in the house, resulting in many sleepless nights, and I sometimes haven’t shown up as the hype student pastor, and I haven’t seen as many salvations or baptisms as I’ve hoped for. But I can pause, look around, and come up with hundreds of small wins that I’ve seen just this year as well.

So, I leave you with this encouragement and reminder I need myself: Don’t let small wins go uncelebrated. Write them down, share them with others, and let them remind you that faithfulness matters more than flash.

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

1. What are three “small wins” from the last month in your ministry that you haven’t celebrated yet, but should? Who can you share those wins with?
2. How can you build a culture where your team is trained to notice and celebrate small wins with you?

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