In the last post, we talked a bit about how a disconnect between the youth pastor and his senior pastor can often happen. We spoke about how exactly the youth pastor ought to try and go about remedying that situation from his end. On the other side of the coin though is the senior pastor. If that’s you, what can you be expected to do to fix the situation? Well, if you read that last post, these three things are going to sound REALLY familiar though each looks a little different.
Take Initiative
Find out exactly what your youth pastor needs. Resources, time, money, etc. Take the initiative to find out what he actually needs (it can often be much different than what you thought) and then make it a goal to have it for him even before he asks. It ought to be your goal as the senior pastor to be out in front making the pathway as straight as possible for the guys under you. Take the initiative to make sure discipleship is happening in his life. Whether it’s you or someone else, you need to make sure it is happening. Don’t get focused on where the youth pastor is right now. Get a vision for he could be for the Lord and then take the initiative to help him get there.
Be Open
You too need to be completely open to accountability in your personal life, your quiet time, how you handle money, how you run events, etc. It’s easy to get defensive, especially when questioned by someone lower on the chain than you. But don’t get defensive at all. Just open up and be straight forward and honest. Let your first reaction to your youth pastor be one of trust. Trust that he’s trying to teachable and that he really wants to know. Don’t automatically assume his motivation is negative. Also, be open to new ideas. Sometimes we can get in a rut and don’t even realize. Keep an open mind and allow your youth pastor to try new stuff.
Share Your Heart
You’re the spiritual leader. You need to be the point on making sure you and your youth pastor aren’t just talking about how to DO ministry, but about Jesus! Share your own heart and what you’re learning from the Word, how you falter sometimes, but how Jesus helps you grow closer to Him each day. Let your youth pastor see the burden you have for you city, your congregation, the Word! When our hearts are knit together, we find we can all of a sudden overlook a whole lot of stupid little things that don’t really matter. Don’t forget to just have some fun with your youth pastor too. Take him bowling or something and just enjoy each other.
The conclusion to bridging the gap in these pastor/youth pastor relationships is this: stop waiting for the other guy to do something. You do everything it takes to meet him where he’s at. If you both do that, you’ll have an incredible relationship. But if even only one of you makes this happen, you’ll be way further down the road than you are now. AND, most likely the other person will be won over by the efforts you are making!
