From Toxic To Thriving: Your Culture Matters

I spent a few months as a substitute teacher. I subbed at one school, and the second I stepped into the front office, I knew there wasn’t a healthy culture in the school. The teachers did not look like they wanted to be there; they looked miserable! The students were misbehaving, and I honestly couldn’t wait for the day to be over. 

The next day, I subbed at a different school. This school was completely different. The teachers were kind. They were laughing and enjoying themselves. It was obvious that they loved their job and the students. The students were great. They were respectful and appeared to enjoy themselves. It was a great day. When they had a teaching position open, I immediately jumped on the opportunity because I wanted to be a part of that school culture. 

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Church culture is the same. We all want to be a part of a church that is healthy, vibrant, and on a mission for Jesus. Being a part of a ministry that is healthy is life-giving and inspiring. Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Being part of a toxic culture will drain, discourage, and make you feel defeated.

Do you have a healthy church culture? Is there an energy in your environment? Do people want to be there? When people step foot in your student space, what feeling do they get? Take a few minutes to reflect and evaluate the condition of your student ministry. 

Signs of a healthy church culture:

• Friendly environment
• People walking around who look happy to be there
• People build each other up
• People know their role and are eager to fill it
• Clarity and purpose

Signs of a not-so-healthy church culture:

• Gossip
• Negativity
• Lack of vision
• Confusion
• Fear
• Lack of prayer

No matter your ministry’s condition, there is room for growth. Here are a few simple tips that can help change your culture from toxic to healthy.

Everything starts with prayer. You may need to pray and ask God to show you the blind spots in your ministry. Chances are, you have a few (at least I know I do). If you desire God to transform your ministry, it’s got to start with humble prayer. Pray constantly. Pray for the students, pray for the ministry, pray for your volunteers, pray big prayers! The time you spend in prayer will be reflected in how He moves.

Flip the script from saying, “I have to” to “I get to.” If you constantly hear yourself saying, I have to call this parent or study for this message, simply change the wording to I get to. Your thoughts matter. Don’t let them work against you. Changing things from obligations to blessings will help you gain perspective on the job you are doing. Being involved in church ministry is hard, but it’s a blessing. Sometimes, we need to remember what a blessing it is.

There is no place for gossip or negativity. You can disagree in a room amongst yourselves, but when you leave the room, you stand by your leaders. Gossiping and spreading negativity works against building the Kingdom. Gossip and negativity will destroy your ministry. You have to guard yourself against speaking it and protect yourself from others influencing you with it.

Don’t work in a silo. There is a harvest, and it takes us all working together to get the job done. It’s easy to lock in and do your job, but we can accomplish much more when others collaborate and help. If this is a struggle for you, start by offering to help another staff member with something they are working on. The more we collaborate and take our own ego out of the equation, the more we can accomplish together.

Have fun! Force yourself to have fun if you need to. People want to be around others when they are having fun. Create the fun!

Don’t live in frustration. There is nothing worse than a leader who is always running around flustered and frustrated. Don’t let the chaos of your day affect everyone else. Sometimes, I think we are looking for sympathy, but your frustration won’t produce your desired fruit. If you are stressed, ask for help. 

Know and communicate your vision. You should be communicating your vision to your people regularly. Why are you doing what you do? How does your programming align with your vision? If something doesn’t align with your vision, ditch it!

Invest in your volunteers. Volunteers can make or break your ministry. Make sure they know that they are loved, valued, and cared for. Check-in with them, communicate with them, and pray for them. Find out ways you can better serve, lead, and care for them.

Create a place where failing is OKAY as long as you learn from it. You have to be able to put yourself out there. Not everything will be a grand slam, and that’s okay. Failure isn’t a bad thing. It’s what you do with the failure that matters. 

Things won’t be perfect. There will always be hard parts to ministry; however, if you can have a mind switch and trust Jesus to do what only He can do, you can change the culture of your student ministry!

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

1. Do I believe that God has me in this position? If so, what are my blind spots?
2. What is the vision of the church? How can I incorporate that vision into the student ministry?

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