Recruiting New Leaders

By far, I am no great musician, but I know enough to recognize that you need multiple instruments to create a complete, beautiful sound. Just like in an orchestra, when only a percussionist plays a beat, you get only part of the music, not the whole sound. It is one-dimensional. You can even add a cello or a trumpet, but it still gives only a piece of the potential sound the orchestra offers.

In the same way, we have a variety of students in our ministries with their varied hobbies and personalities, and it would increase our impact to have a variety of leaders to reach and minister to them, rather than relying primarily on one type of leader and making our ministries one-dimensional. A danger in recruiting is that we like to recruit leaders who look and act like us. We do this because we like people like us. We must be aware of this danger and be willing to recruit others who are not like us.

If everyone is like me, we have a one-dimensional group of leaders in our ministry and miss out on reaching others who are not like us. No matter how fun and cool you are (or think you are), you can’t reach and connect with every type of student, and, sorry to say this, not every type of student will connect with and like you.

Let’s consider the different types of students in our ministry. They have different personalities, birth orders, points in their spiritual journey, and hobbies. Some are athletes, creative artists, academics, goth, gamers, tech, odd, popular, nerds, outgoing, introverted, etc. By far, this is not an exhaustive list. With this in mind, what kind of leaders do we have in our ministries, and is there a person for each type of student to connect with when they walk through the doors of our churches? At one church I served at, I had a leader who would surf on Sunday mornings before church and then show up to lead. He obviously connected with the surfers in the group, but maybe not with some of the other students. It doesn’t mean he can’t connect with others, or that they can’t connect with him. These are just some thoughts and guidelines to help us make sure we have a variety of leaders and are equipped to minister to and reach every type of student.

Below are some thoughts to consider as you recruit new leaders to serve in your ministry:

#1 - Be mindful and focus on building a ministry that reaches students in various aspects of their lives.

Students vary in their faith, from strong and new to old and weak. They also have different personalities and hobbies. Some leaders connect better with athletes, while others connect better with creative art students. The same is true for tech, theater, and the list goes on. You will also want to be mindful that some leaders minister more effectively to students at different places in their spiritual journey, such as new Christians versus mature ones seeking deeper discipleship, and vice versa.

#2 - Don’t be afraid of different leadership styles.

Just as we tell parents that you can’t parent all their kids the same way because each one is different, they may need to parent each kid with a different style. This is true in ministry as well. We will serve our students better when we know our student context.

# 3 - Don’t be afraid of having different personalities on your team.

In a student ministry, students have a variety of personalities and hobbies. Consider including a range of personality types and hobbies among your leaders so you can better reach all students and give them someone they can relate to, rather than relying on a single type of leader.

# 4 - Don’t be afraid to include different age groups in your leadership team.

Many student ministries focus on recruiting leaders who are 20-24 years old and cool. I agree with getting as many young, energetic, on-fire-for-God leaders as possible. I just want to challenge the idea that only the good-looking, cool young adults can reach students. My primary focus in recruiting over the years has been their heart. Are they a Christian? Do they have a heart for God? Can they relate to students? I would rather have a few leaders locked and loaded like this than a lot that are carnal. It is always a benefit, but it is not enough if they just have cool points.

We can get cool leaders and have to clean up big messes. Our first priority should be where they are with God. All of that other stuff is nice, but it is extra. There is new research showing that Gen Alpha does not care as much about the age of the leader. One of our coolest and most effective leaders with middle school boys over the years was a guy named Charlie who was in his 80s.

Share your thoughts with others in our YM360 community:

1. In an average small-group class, there are different personalities. How can you integrate different types of leaders to reach the different types of students in each class?
2. How can you connect similar leaders and students who may not be in the same small group?