Yesterday I wrote a blog about the importance about aligning the vision of your youth ministry with your senior pasot’s vision of the church. You can click HERE to read it. This week, I want to share with you how you can make sure you are still headed towards the same vision. there are steps we as student pastors can take to make sure we are in great communication with our senior pastors. It’s one of the most important things you can do.

 

DO THIS: Share the wins

Does your senior pastor know how God is using your ministry? I don’t know if you know this or not, but its your responsibility to keep your senior pastor informed. I hear a lot of people complain, “Well my senior pastor doesn’t know what is really going on in our ministry. He must not care.” False. He cares, he’s just enoying not having a crisis there to have to take care of. Too many youth ministries are on fire and senior leaders have to just keep extinguishing instead of encouraging. It is up to you to keep him and your staff informed with what God is doing. When we have meetings, make sure you tell stories about what God is doing in the lives of your students.

Let’s go practical for a minute:

  • In staff meetings, celebrate victory stories of students.
  • Send an email once a month to your pastor to let them know what types of things you are doing to carry out the vision of the church and your ministry just so he can be in the know.
  • Celebrate the awesome things that happened at camp.
  • During announcements, tell a story of redemption from your ministry and tie it into whatever your doing.

No one is going to be as excited about your ministry as you, so you have to find any and every opportunity to take initiative and tell stories of what God is doing. 

It’s your job to keep your pastor informed.

Here is the deal, I know for the most part, a lot of senior pastors and student pastors get along and there is a good relationship there. I’m not saying that because there is no alignment there is a bad relationship. What I am saying is, when we are not intentional some things can fall through the cracks. If you have not had these talks with your pastor, maybe this could be a great opportunity to lead up and help them understand you want alignment. It could show them that you are willing to follow them wherever they want to go because you are making sure your ministry is keeping aligned with him and his vision.

Perfect vision: Make regular vision checkups

Regular conversations are essential to maintain the health of your collective ministry. The tendency is to have the conversation one time and think you are good to go. We need to make sure we have regular, intentional check in’s to make sure the vision and execution of our ministries and within the bounds of the vision and the execution of the church we are serving at.

I believe if we student pastors have these conversations, we will be better set up to gain the support and trust of those over us and we will be able and free to reach the students we are called to reach in our areas.

 

Justin Knowles