Multiplying Yourself as a Bi-Vocational Youth Pastor

Bi-vocational ministry isn’t for the weak. Bi-vocational student pastors often can feel overwhelmed, overworked, undervalued, and underpaid. How am I going to keep up with my church's expectations? What am I going to speak about this week? What game are we going to play? What songs are we going to sing? Do I even have anyone to help me with the music? Oh yeah, softball season is almost over, and I haven’t even been to a game.

These are just a few of the questions that I have personally wrestled with and stressed over as a bi-vocational youth leader. The pressure that leaders like me often put on ourselves is unhealthy, but it comes because we take the calling God has given us seriously. We want to see our ministry be the best it possibly can because we care about our students, and primarily about their salvation. When we take this call seriously, we understand that it will take more than just us to ensure our ministries are run effectively. Throughout the rest of this blog, I want to share some of the approaches I have implemented in our ministry and hope you gain a few tools to help relieve some of the pressure of bi-vocational ministry.

The Key to Multiplying Yourself in Mentoring and Discipling

I think we can all agree that discipleship is a key part of any ministry. God has called each of His people to “go and make disciples,” and as youth leaders, our disciples are primarily middle and high school and college-age students. Discipleship is something that takes intentionality and time, something a lot of us want to have but just simply don’t. This is where I have learned to lean in and trust my adult leaders.

When I first got to my church, I had a handful of college students who were volunteering in our student ministry. Over the first year, they all fizzled out as life took them away from serving. One day, my wife and I walked into our student room and realized we had around 40 students and that we were the only adults. When we got home, we began talking about how stressful the night was. That night, I began to pray about finding a couple of adult leaders to help us manage.

One thing I want to make note of here is that I hand-selected who I was going to ask. I did not get up in front of the church and ask for any volunteers. I needed them to fit our culture and vision and to be able to fit in with our students. I was able to secure 4 adults to come and help us on Wednesday nights. And man, they were and still are game changers. But I did not just let them go in and hang out. I began to spend intentional time with them on Wednesdays. I clearly shared our vision with them and began to give them small responsibilities. They helped me greet students, make sure the pizza got to the student room and was cleaned up, and they helped make sure all of our students were where they were supposed to be. Once all of this was taking place naturally, we began to ask them to lead small groups and to join us in the discipleship strategy of our student ministry. And eventually, 4 turned into 10.

One thing I have learned is this: if you can get a few volunteers to buy into you and your vision, they will buy into your ministry. I began meeting with our adult leaders once a month on Sunday nights to develop them. It was a simple leader meeting. I purchased their favorite drink and snack and had it waiting for them when they got there. I asked pointed questions about how their small groups were going and if they needed anything. I took them through a book on discipleship. I put practical resources in their hands. I wanted them to feel valued, seen, heard, and prepared. I gave them the plans that I had for the next season of ministry. Having adult leaders in place really took a good amount of pressure and stress off of me to be able to focus my efforts on preaching and sharing the gospel with my students.

While I am still deeply involved in the discipleship of each of our students, our adult leaders take center stage now. They are building relationships with our students on their own. They are showing up at our students' events without being asked to. They have moved from volunteer to owner. I champion our adult leaders so that they can champion our students. We have now built a structure within our student ministry, and I am multiplying myself through our adult volunteers. They are the backbone of our ministry, and I am confident that if something ever happened to me, our ministry could be sustained because of these adult volunteers. But they have to know that you care about them, that they can be honest with you, that you are available to them, and that you are not throwing them to the wolves. Spoil them and pray for them constantly.

The Hidden Gem of Leading a Student Ministry

One of the biggest hidden gems in building a sustainable student ministry is investing in student leaders. I am a massive supporter of developing students to take ownership of the ministry that they are in. One of the things that I have tried to implement into our student ministry since I started is a student leadership team. I was intentional with these students and helped them take ownership of our ministry. I am a big believer that this ministry is not my ministry; it’s their ministry. Like my adult leaders, I began to hand-select a few students for that leadership team. However, I learned that it’s not always those whom I think would be good leaders who are actually the best leaders. I struggled to maintain this leadership team through the first few years. It wasn’t until I realized that I didn’t need to look for what I thought were natural leaders to be on my leadership team that I needed to look for those who felt like this ministry was theirs.

This started with one student. And then another. And once I had a couple of student leaders, I began to allow them to help me seek out other students who fit our culture and who could help us grow. This turned into a 10-student leadership team. Just like I did with my adult leaders, I led my student leaders in a monthly leadership meeting where I shared my heart and vision of our ministry, but I allowed them to speak into it. I wanted our ministry to be theirs. And through listening to them and allowing them to have a say in the ministry, the student leaders went all in on our ministry.

I began to give each one of them a different role on Wednesday nights. And here is why they are the hidden gym for bi-vocational student leaders: because they are bought in and taking ownership. All I have to do on Wednesday nights now is preach. I don’t have to worry about what game we are playing. A student handles that. I don’t have to worry about creating new accounts for new students. A student does that. I don’t have to worry about leading music on Wednesday nights. A student leads that team and handles all the song selections and logistics. I don’t even have to worry about making sure students are welcomed and in the right place. Guess what? A student does that. And what is cool is that each one of them has recruited more students to join them in leading our ministry.

I include these students when I am planning events. They know they are free to share any and all feedback with me, both good and bad. They get a say in where we go to camp. They get to vote on where we go throughout the year. I am the final word, but 99% of the time, I agree with our students because they understand what we are trying to create in our ministry.

I have learned that when our student leaders feel equipped and empowered, our student ministry gets stronger. They are the true driving force behind our ministry. And for a bi-vocational student pastor, it frees me up to focus on my preaching and to be able to spend time with our new students or any student who needs to talk. Plus, I am able to get home to my family sooner, which is always a plus.

How To Get To This Point

You may be reading this and asking yourself, "How do I get there? I’ve got 4 students and no adult help. I also have no time to develop leaders.” My encouragement to you would be this: sit down one night after everyone is asleep and dream. Ask yourself questions like:

• What are the goals of our student ministry?
• What is the vision of our ministry?
• Where could I use the most help?
• What do I struggle with in our ministry?
• What takes the most energy out of me in regard to our ministry?
• What could I give up to make our ministry better?

Allow yourself to dream big. Whether you have 10 students or 100 students, make a list of things you want to see accomplished in your ministry. Once you do this, make a list of people in your congregation that you can invite to join you in making your vision become reality. Then go ask them! People often want to be part of something bigger than themselves, and you have an opportunity to give them a chance to do just that. If you try to run the ministry yourself, you will eventually experience burnout.

As I close, let me encourage you with this: What you do matters, and who you minister to matters. Don’t do it alone. Multiply yourself so that you can sustain your ministry for the long haul and fulfill the calling God has given you.

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

1. Who is one adult that you can ask to begin to serve alongside you in your student ministry? What is one responsibility that you can give them?
2. Name 2 students who are active in your ministry that you could develop into leaders?