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5 Actions of Highly Effective Youth Workers

By Doug Franklin June 8, 2021

Most youth workers think exciting programming will make them effective. They are wrong.

What makes youth workers wildly effective is how well they communicate. I am not talking about sermons, messages or talks. I am talking about how well they communicate about the priorities, struggles, needs, wins and their personal relationship with Christ.

Spend 5 minutes with Doug Fields, and he will communicate that he wants to know you by learning about you. Spend 5 minutes with Josh Griffin, and he will communicate that you are valued. Great communication starts with caring about others. Doug and Josh show this every time you are around them.

If I were to spend 5 minutes with you, what would you communicate?

5 actions of highly effective youth workers

I have noticed that highly effective youth workers increase communication by practicing 5 actions on a regular basis. They are as follows:

5 Actions of highly effective youth workers

5. Make sure you are in alignment with church policies, budgets and non-youth ministry commitments. How you serve says more about your leadership than your weekly sermon. Displaying teamwork with your church leadership team is the key to having them support your ministry.

5 Actions of a Highly Effective Youth Worker

4. Digitally communicate with church leadership one story from your youth ministry where the mission of the youth ministry is being lived out. It doesn’t matter if the story has a happy ending (because many of our stories don’t), it just matters that you are showing that the mission of the ministry is moving forward.

3. Share third party youth ministry articles, podcasts and books with your adult volunteer staff. They need to hear other voices than your own to buy deeply into the mission of the ministry.  This will also help them buy into your leadership as they see you continuing to grow.

2. Write students notes. As a youth worker, I would write a few each day and send them out in the mail. I would always include how I saw God working in their lives. Students never get mail, and these notes often are great encouragement to students.

1. Spend time in God’s Word not for sermon prep. You can’t give what you do not have. When all you do is pour out, in a short of amount of time you will burn out.

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