Big Fat Lie #1: “I’ll do the work, God will take care of the soul “

Here’s a seductive misconception that has very little to do with years in youth ministry: since I’m busy doing God‘s work, my soul will take care of itself. Or, a slight variation: since I’m busy doing God’s work, God will take care of my soul.

I say this misconception is seductive for a couple reasons: first, it’s intuitive. It seems that giving all our time and energy to the never-ending needs of youth ministry should result in a healthy, well-cared-for soul. It seems that spending more and more time on the work of the kingdom should result in my own spiritual life and vitality being full and built-up and vigorous and full of life.

But it doesn’t work that way. And one of the main reasons it doesn’t work that way is because God actually cares more about you as a person, his wonderful and sublime creation, than about the output of your youth ministry. Taking care of your own soul is counter-intuitive.

The other reason I use the word ‘seductive’ is that it’s counter to so much of what we’ve heard from our churches and the church culture in general. ‘Work harder’; ‘work longer’; ‘grow the youth group by a few more’; ‘go after that one more lost sheep’ – these are the spiritualized messages we’ve all received. And that steady diet of warped messages can (and almost always does) result in ministering from a place of spiritual emptiness (at best) or burn out (at worst).

Look: no one (not your pastor, not the parents of your youth, not your youth ministry peers, and certainly not your youth) will be a caretaker for your soul. Jesus pulled away from the crowds for times of silence and reflection and prayer. If Jesus (God!) needed that, then it’s nothing but self-delusion that would lead us to believe we could be any different.

I’ll be honest – this is a lesson I’m still learning. To pull away from the demands of ministry, to disconnect from my cell phone and my email, to engage silence and truly engage God when it’s not about prep for a youth talk – these are the things that create in me a place to minister from, which, at the end of the day, is more important than the places I minister to.

–>Does your youth staff feeling overwhelmed?

Could your youth staff benefit from words of encouragement and practical insight from an experienced youth worker?  We invite you to visit The Grable Group to discover more about how our youth ministry experts can help your youth staff build a fired up youth program without getting burned out.   Or call us at 615 283 0039 so that together we can make your youth program help your youth staff reach more souls without sacrificing their own.