It is hard to find trustworthy statistics on how many people leave children’s and youth ministry. Look around at local churches and you will probably find quite regular turnover in both ministries (granted in many churches, children’s ministry is often managed by a volunteer). There are lots of different reasons for this, but I think a major one is that we are not helping our children’s and youth ministers be gritty enough to survive ministry. When the going gets tough….they eventually go.
The book Grit by Angela Duckworth has a lot of great information in it and should probably be a must read for everyone in ministry as well as elders and deacons. Because it was written from a secular mindset, however, I want to look at one of her principles and put a bit of a Christian spin on it. I think this particular exercise illuminates one of the core issues with ministry turnover.
Duckworth identifies four areas that are the psychological assets of people who have a lot of grit. In her definition these are the people who have a clear vision and will work through hardships and do the hard work to reach the goals they have set for (in our case) ministry.
So what are these assets and how do we need to look at them a bit differently from a spiritual, biblical mindset?
- Interest. This is the first place where I think both people in ministry and hiring committees make their first mistake. Having an interest in – or even loving – working with children and teens is nice, but not what is needed for ministry grit. What we need are people whose primary interest is figuring out to help young people build unshakeable faith foundations, grow to their full God given potential, become faithful, productive Christians and go to Heaven. Do we want people who have no interest in working with kids or teens? Of course not, but we have too many people whose interest stops there, which robs them of their purpose and their grit.
- Practice. Here’s another big area where I think many churches miss the boat. Yes practice is in part actually “doing” ministry on a daily basis. But helpful practice involves improvement and it’s hard to improve if you aren’t learning and growing. So some churches “solve”the problem by sending their ministers to flashy conferences featuring ministry topics. I don’t know about you, but I can count on one hand the times I’ve gotten more than an idea or two out of the vast majority of conferences I have attended in any industry. For most attendees, it’s just a chance to chill a bit in a fun city and gripe with people in the same industry. Real practice comes from reading great books, having a mentor and learning from people who can actually show long term success… not just hype. It may be hard to find those people or sometimes even those books, but when you do, you will have more ministry grit because you have been doing quality practice meant to actually improve your skills.
- Purpose. If I had to pick one area where the biggest problem lies, it may be here. Why are you doing ministry? If you are not absolutely passionate about helping young people get to Heaven, you probably won’t make it. Ministry is tough, but the stakes are high. If we lower the bar, our purpose is lessened. We become just another events coordinator or recruiter or teacher. When the tough times come, it’s easy to quit, because what of importance are you doing anyway? When you realize the stakes, your purpose, is helping these kids get to Heaven, you will do whatever it takes to help them get there.
- Hope. I thought this one was really interesting. We talk about our hope being in God, but it can be easy to lose hope in Ministry. It can feel like you are fighting an uphill battle. That the things you are doing aren’t making a difference. That there’s no hope things will ever get better. When I get discouraged, I regularly pray to God asking Him to give me some affirmation that I am doing what He wants me to do in my ministry to Him. He has never let me down. Will I change anything substantially for the better? In some ways it doesn’t matter, because it’s God who makes it all come together to accomplish His Will. Our part is just doing what He gives us to do to complete our piece of the puzzle. What God ultimately does with that is up to God. Our hope is in God and our faithfulness is in completing those things He has set before us to do.
The thing I love about this book is that the author continually points out that grit can be learned. It can be improved. So if you aren’t very gritty in ministry now, you can be. The young people to whom you minister need you to be as gritty as possible. Now you know how.