Not completing your tasks that you have in front of you is what holds youth leaders back, and makes the difference between a ho-hum youth ministry and a thriving successful youth ministry. Here are a few tips to help you out!
When coming up with material for your youth ministry, a lot of youth leaders will be faced with the obstacle known to all of us as procrastination. It’s Monday night, and your next youth group meeting isn’t until next Saturday. In the next six days you need to come up with creative engaging material to share with your students. A lot of people would say “Heck, I’ll get it done before Wednesday”. The problem with that mentality is, time flies and life gets in the way, before you know it, it’s Wednesday evening and you haven’t prepared any material for your students. If this scenario plays out like he usually does, you’ll be scrambling on Friday evening, stressed-out, and tired, throwing together a Bible lesson or group meeting plan that is subpar.
Instead of letting this scenario play out, put together a simple plan that you can follow, and just get the work done. If you want to overcome procrastination there are a few rules to abide by.
Know Your Goals
First, you have to know what you want for your youth ministry. If you want your youth group to have an impact on your students’ lives then you must know ahead of time that it will take some sacrifice on your part to have a well thought out, creative, and interesting ministry. The sacrifice comes in time spent on your material, and also effort put into building relationships with your students.
Push Yourself
Secondly, you must force yourself to take action. There are times when you will simply not want to work on your tasks at hand for your youth ministry. Remind yourself that by not completing your tasks at hand that you’re not cheating yourself, you are cheating the students who look up to you for leadership and you are not setting a proper example for your students.
Don’t Be Afraid
Don’t be afraid of mistakes, we all make them. If what is holding you back is a fear of making a mistake, then your fear is unfounded. The truth is every single one of us will make mistakes. If you are preparing a Bible lesson for your youth group, and for whatever reason you make a mistake quoting the Bible, this is a great opportunity to correct yourself with your ministry. The worst thing that can happen is you find a mistake while teaching the material and correct it, or a student finds the mistake and you can correct it as a group. We are not perfect, and we all make mistakes.
No More Excuses
Lastly, stop making excuses. The excuses people come up with not to do work or the tasks in front of them go on and on. Stop making excuses for yourself; understand that God has placed you in this position with your ministry, and that you need to now complete whatever is in front of you.
I hope these tips help you in your daily youth work for more make sure you check out a great free e-book on productivity : E-Book
