How to Keep Great Leaders Around for a Long Time

In part one of this series, we looked at the characteristics of a good youth staff leader.  In part two, we talked about where to find just such leaders. In part three, we discussed some strategy for recruiting those leaders.  I hope these posts have been helpful to you in building your ministry team.  Today we’re going to focus on what it takes to keep those leaders once you have them.

Be a Better Leader

You need to be the very best leader you can be.  You ought to be reading at least one leadership book a month. (This is a personal goal that I don’t always meet, but better to aim and miss than not aim at all!) You ought to devour the book of Proverbs.  Its practical wisdom is indispensible.  You need to have someone pouring into your life and mentoring/discipling you.  Be it a senior pastor, an older youth pastor, or whatever, get someone.  No excuses.  People will drop off like flies unless you lead them well, so work hard at becoming a better leader.

Be Challenging

Don’t create a lazy environment for your leadership staff.  Challenge them.  People thrive when they are creatively challenged.  This doesn’t mean barking orders like a dictator.  In fact, it means you lead the charge by example and then inspire people to follow.  Think about challenging your leaders to spend more time with their students, to read more, to study their Bible more, to memorize Scripture more.  Pick one thing as a focus and hammer it for a while.  Lead them out front and challenge them to follow.

Be Considerate

While the last point was to be challenging, it’s also important to remember to be considerate.  It’s the balance: like speaking the truth in love.  You need both.  Remember your volunteers probably have families, full time jobs, other ministry commitments, etc.  Don’t bleed them dry.  Work hard at understanding where they are in life whether that includes kids, work responsibilities, family things, or whatever.  Then try to challenge them in an understanding way.

Be a Discipler

You’ve got to make sure there is a good inflow in the lives of your leaders.  You don’t have to necessarily do it all, but you have to make sure it is happening.  It’s been said that everyone needs a Paul and everyone needs a Timothy.  They’ve probably got the Timothy part covered with the students in your group.  But do they have a Paul? What other training do you offer?  Do you hold periodic team training days? Do you buy them books? Do you take them to a leadership conference? Do you invite other speakers to minister to your staff?  Be a refreshing person and people will love you for it.

Sometimes getting new leaders seems like the hard part, but in reality, if we could keep the good ones around longer, we’d have to do less recruiting.  What are you doing to manage your leadership team?  It’s like a garden.  You can’t just plant it and forget it.  You have to constantly care and nurture the team so it produces maximum fruit.  This not only benefits your youth ministry, but it also benefits the leader.