This article is part of a series titled “Hope in the City: Gospel-Centered Wisdom for Urban Youth Ministry.” In this series, we hear from youth ministry leaders about how they faithfully disciple students within an urban context while navigating limited resources, complex cultural dynamics, and the everyday pressures of ministry.
I spent much of my early life involved in sports teams. Teams were central to the identity I formed and fashioned in my early life. I will never forget the feeling of pride and joy when I received my team jersey each new season. I became a pretty good athlete and, therefore, found myself in competitive environments. Whether I was on the soccer field or the basketball court, there was a special joy in belonging to a specific group, seeking to accomplish one unified yet difficult goal: to win the championship that season.
Each team was made up of different characters with different personalities and from differing circumstances. Some teammates were loud and expressive; others were introspective and quiet. Some teammates were talented but entitled; others were clumsy on the field, yet humorous and wonderful to be around. Being involved with many sports teams over 20 years taught me one valuable lesson: the most talented teams weren’t always the most successful teams. Instead, the most successful teams were so convinced of the mission that each member sacrificed his personal goals to make the team the best it could be. In other words, talent didn’t automatically mean the team would triumph; unified team purpose was a better indicator of success.
Choosing a Volunteer Team
When Jesus enters the scene in the New Testament, he brings with him a new way of living—one that rests in authentic love for God and people rather than formulaic, passionless works. After beginning his earthly ministry, he quickly chooses a team of disciples to help him accomplish God’s mission. When Jesus calls his first disciples, the Gospel writers make it a point to emphasize that Jesus didn’t choose the most respected, socially popular, or powerful. Instead, Jesus first chooses fishermen.
Though they were far from perfect, Jesus called them and taught them to lay down their personal wishes for the priorities of the kingdom. He taught them that the fruit of their lives was far more important than their outward success (Matt. 7:15-23). When it comes to building a volunteer team that loves students well, we ought to take the same posture and approach as Jesus. Rather than settling on those who seem to “fit” the part based on human reasoning, we ought to develop a system of selecting men and women who are growing in the qualities that God values.
Christian leaders, according to Jesus, ought to lead differently than worldly leaders. In Matthew 20, Jesus instructs his disciples to lead with a heart bent toward serving others rather than being served by others. He models that character is the utmost priority, and it starts, first and foremost, with the youth leader in charge. Before you can build a volunteer team that loves students well, you must first become a leader worth following.
Becoming a Leader Worth Following
How does one become a leader worth following? First in kingdom work, every leader must prioritize time with Jesus. The writer of Proverbs puts it this way: “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Prov. 13:20) In other words, we become who we watch. Time spent with Jesus is paramount for each leader. In doing so, God gives leaders something indispensable: discernment. Prioritizing prayer, time in the Word of God, and living a life yielded to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit will give leaders the discerning grace needed to lead well. When we are leading well, we will attract volunteers who want to share their lives with others in the way Jesus models.
When we reach youth with the gospel of Jesus Christ and instruct them in the Word, they grow in their biblical understanding and fall in love with Jesus. Statistics show this kind of discipleship is most likely to lead them to live for Jesus for a lifetime.
Encourage Long-Term Investment
When it comes to building a volunteer team that loves students well, volunteers need to be encouraged in the work they are doing. Youths are impressionable; they long for people to learn from. Building a team that loves students well must consistently know the importance of their work. Celebrate your volunteers and constantly remind them of their investment. When it comes to working with youth, the fruit may not be visible for years or even decades.
When I was a child, my parents purchased a tangerine tree for my sister and me. We planted the tree in an area of our backyard with great sunlight and watered it diligently. Growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, we expected fruits and vegetables to grow in our backyard. We waited month after month, year after year, but we saw minimal change in our trees. In fact, I remember a couple of years later, my family was around the dinner table and concluded that maybe we had somehow killed the trees.
However, one late fall about 3 years later, we saw an explosion of tangerine buds, so much that we started giving tangerines away to our neighbors because we had more fruit than our family could eat. To this very day, every fall we have an abundance of fruit ready to consume. That tangerine tree taught me a valuable lesson for ministry. Our work can seem monotonous and ineffective, but if we remain faithful, fruit will appear. Therefore, to build a volunteer team that loves students well, we must encourage our volunteers toward faithfulness, because in God’s kingdom, faithfulness leads to fruitfulness.
Build a Joy-filled Ministry
Finally, to build a volunteer team that loves students well, we ought to make plenty of room for joy. The book of Nehemiah tells God’s people that their strength emanates from their joy in the Lord (Neh. 8:10). Make sure your volunteer team recognizes that joy is the engine that keeps one’s service to Jesus humble and holy. Ultimately, God is in control of how many students attend our ministry. The Lord handles the number, yet he grants us the power to control our attitude.
When we have joy founded in faith, we build a ministry that attracts volunteers and students alike. The pinnacle of joy is found gift-wrapped in Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate reminder that God gave his most precious gift, namely his Son. Therefore, our identity is secure, our ministries aren’t fully dependent upon our leaders, and we are free to love the people God has entrusted to us. When volunteers are enamored with Jesus, joy oozes out of our being. Encourage your volunteers to trust Jesus because with Jesus there is fullness of joy. When there is fullness of joy, love is near, and students are encouraged in the gospel!
Rooted’s new 52-week devotional, God with You, is out now. Through this chronological exploration of God’s story, Teenagers will experience Jesus as the lifter of their burdens and the source of their rest and hope.
