Global Youth Ministry Network - Asia

A book that has greatly influenced my ministry is “The Next Generation Leader” by Andy Stanley. This book was first published 6 years ago yet the principles are very much applicable for those who work with the youth today. So I’m going through these principles as well as including some thoughts on how this can be applied to our ministry to young people. This is the 3rd of five parts.

3. A leader will carry out clear and precise actions even in the shadow of uncertainty.

The higher you rise in leadership, the more uncertainty there is, not less.

Andy writes, “It took me several years to figure this out. As a young leader I was tormented by the assumption that I should know what to do in every situation. If I were a good leader I would reason, I would know exactly what to do. After all I am the leader! Leaders should know. Leaders are supposed to be able to stand up at any given moment and give direction with absolute certainty. Or so I thought.

Time and experience have taught me differently… Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape.”

Leaders are called on to give clear instructions on where our ministry is to go even in the midst of uncertainty.

Take being the leader a basketball team with limited time remaining in a game and you are behind by 2 points. You wouldn’t just point everyone to the court and tell them to keep playing because you were uncertain of what strategy would win the game. You would draw up a play with specific instructions based on what you know your team is capable of. Only as the game reaches the final buzzer will you know if your decision was the right one or not.

In youth ministry, many decisions come with uncertainty. Fear of not choosing the best path or program can paralyze a leader. And so might the thought of consequences of failure. But sometimes we don’t pick a course of action until it is too late to carry out any action at all.

This is something to watch out for especially during transitions in our ministry, adopting a new program or phasing out a program that is not working towards our purposes. There will always be hesitancy to change, but as leaders it is our job to chart out the steps to make, be clear in what must be done and hold people responsible to carry out their assignments.