I remember the excitement of the first month of being a full-time youth minister. I had so many ideas of how I was going to evangelize the world and raise up a new generation of sold-out Jesus-freaks. With my YOUR FIRST TWO YEARS IN YOUTH MINISTRY by Doug Fields in one hand and my coffee mug in the other, I felt excited to begin building my ministry. However, it didn’t take long for me to realize that you can’t just build a ministry and expect everyone else to immediately be on board. I quickly realized that criticism (and sometimes constant criticism) was going to be something I would have to deal with. Here is the reality: In ministry, not everyone is going to like the decisions you make. Actually, in ministry, not everyone is going to like you. As harsh as that may sound, it is a very important reality that all ministers need to know. You are going to get angry emails from parents. You are going to have students who actively work against your plans for the ministry. You are going to have church leaders and pastors who don’t agree with you. So here are a couple of things every minister needs to remember when dealing with criticism and conflict. 1. DON’T BE EVERYTHING TO EVERYONE I wish someone would have told me at the beginning: experiencing criticism doesn’t mean anything is wrong with you.When I was first met with criticism, I thought it was my job to make everyone happy. I jumped through as many hoops as possible in an attempt to make every student, leader and parent happy. You will never make everyone happy. Nor should you. Some of the people who are criticizing your ministry are actually wrong and just want their way. Remember that. To follow the people-pleasing path is a quick slope downward toward burn-out. ...Continue on Youth Specialities Blog
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Got to be apart of an awesome conversation with some friends from Youth Specialities. We discussed the importance of volunteer training in ministry. This was a really enjoyable time of just being real about the struggles of training volunteers and also gaining insight into how to best equip leaders for ministry success.
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AuthorMy name is Andrew May. Archives
June 2017
CategoriesAdamDorband.com |