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youth worker, youth ministry, student ministry

3 Things to Improve Leadership

By Doug Franklin December 17, 2012

As you get older in youth ministry you come to realize that leadership plays a huge role in being effective. Gone are the days of doing everything yourself or doing stupid stunts to get students to like you. Now you want to spend more time on growing your leadership because you know that if you grow your leadership you can grow your ministry. So here are three things you can do today to grow your leadership:

1. Share the vision
Tell three people at your church the vision of your ministry. Share with them why it’s important and a story of a student’s life change that illustrates how the vision is being lived out. Actually, if you can do this everyday it will change your ministry.

2. Empower a volunteer
Make a list of everything you do in your ministry. Then next to each item try and think of someone in your ministry who could do it better then you. Call them and ask them to take the leadership of that item. By doing this you will empower volunteers to lead instead of chaperone.

3. Engage students
Go deeper into the lives of students. Don’t just ask them to come to your ministry events. Care about them so they will give you their hearts. You can’t win the ministry battle if you think that getting students to events is the finish line. We are reaching for their hearts, so who cares about them most has the best chance to speak truth into their lives. So get out of the church office and onto a campus or coffee shop and start asking deep questions. This caring about students will bring more influence and influence is leadership.

About the Author

Doug Franklin

Doug Franklin is the president of LeaderTreks, an innovative leadership development organization focusing on students and youth workers. Doug and his wife, Angie, live in West Chicago, Illinois. They don’t have any kids, but they have 2 dogs that think they are children. Diesel and Penelope are Weimaraners  who never leave their side. Doug grew up in…  Read More