Global Youth Ministry Network - Asia

This post is part of the Youth Connection articles we send out every two months to graduates of our trainings. This month our topic is on servanthood.

Here are ways that we could improve our being servant leaders:

Serve with passion – Don’t fall into the trap that we are into servanthood because it is required or that we have a debt to repay. If there is anything to be seen in the life of the disciples, they identified themselves as servants because of their love for Jesus. Let us also serve out of passion and joy. If you feel you have lost some of the passion consider the question Jesus asked in John 13:12, “Do you understand what I have done to you?” Reflecting on that question and considering all that Jesus has done in my life has helped me continue to serve with joy.

Serve within your capacity—Jesus who calls us into ministry tells us that his burden is easy and his yoke is light. If the duty of your ministry seems like the weight of mountains, maybe you are no longer serving as Jesus intended and it is time to reassess.

Possible reasons for this:

a)    More spiritual output than spiritual input—as time we give to youth ministry increases, so must our time with the Lord. Many youth leaders fall into the trap of serving to the neglect of their time of being with Jesus and gaining something from His Word for personal use.¹ One way we can prevent others from following this unhealthy pattern is to appreciate and encourage fellow youth leaders in doing the very important work of caring for their own soul.

b)    So many things, so little time—Others of us, have too many things too handle and not enough time to do them all. We may think having a lot of activities going on helps us accomplish more but if we handle more things than we have the capacity to juggle, some of them will drop and crack. For the youth worker this begins in the form of mediocre programs and broken relationships. If this is happening, there are some things we need to delegate and some things we need to remove. It is much better to concentrate first on a few or even one plan or program that you can do excellently rather than have many programs going on that are mediocre or failing.

Also keep in mind that the youth need a healthy you. If you crash and burn later because of the load you are taking on now, that would not help the youth at all.

Serve within your area of gifting – One reason that a person may have a hard time serving is that he has been assigned to an area of ministry that he is not gifted in or trained for.  There are some areas of ministry that God has given us the skills, inclinations and gifts, but there will also be areas where we are weak. I love to read and write which is one of the reasons you are reading this but I get nervous when someone asks me to sing. If you don’t know yet, it would be good to figure out what exactly where you made for—this could be done by taking some tests (see #2 reference below), consulting with people around you or trying out different things in the ministry. If you have the capability, also help others who are struggling in their ministry to find the perfect fit. It is beautiful to see someone do something that God has made them for and there is great joy in serving there.

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1.    This is explored much deeper in the Level 2 Seminar. If you have the Level 2 notebook, see the topic “Internal Life of the Christian Leader”.

2.  Here are some tests that  help that might help you or your youth shed light an area of gifting. One thing to note, these are not authoritative so you may want to consult others on your results:
a.    Jung Typology test
b.    Personal DNA
c.    Big Personality Test