Part-Time Youth Pastor, Full-Time Hero: How To Stay Spiritually Healthy When There’s No Food Around

As a minister, one of our main priorities is to stay spiritually healthy. For a youth pastor, we get an extra benefit in this department because we get the ability to participate in our morning worship. We don’t have major responsibilities, so we can soak in the message our pastors present to us. With that said, I know this doesn’t always happen, especially for those who work in small churches. If your church is anything like my small church was, every time you walk into the sanctuary you feel like you’re inside a time capsule that preserved the 1950′s. Not to say the 1950′s were a bad era, it just means you get a 1950′s attitude that is far removed from 2013. If you get what I’m saying, than you understand how that affects the entire worship service you’re supposed to glean from.

When the place that’s supposed to supply you with food to eat, only provides you with scraps, staying spiritually health is going to be a challenge. However, there is a way to continue to grow in your faith, but you’re going to have to learn how use some tools if you’re going to hunt for your food. Here are five tools you can use that will help stay spiritually healthy.

Read Your Bible

I know this one is a given, but in all honestly, how often do you think minister actually take the time to allow the word of God to pour into their souls? Probably far less than you think. We are human, and we’re just as capable of not reading our bibles just like the people we serve. Having a set time to read, pray, and even journal your thoughts about God is crucial to staying spiritually healthy. If you’re not sure where to start, begin with Matthew and go from there. Read a minimum of two chapters and write notes either during or after you have finished reading. Don’t skip on this major discipline!

Read Other Books

If you stop learning, you stop growing. Reading different books keeps your creative juices going, and that’s huge if you’re in ministry. Furthermore, don’t just read books about youth ministry. Take the time to read books on preaching, theology, leadership, disciplines, worship, ethics, relationships, history, and even fiction. And if you’re bold enough, go outside the Christian genre and read what your students are reading in school. For an added bonus you just showed you’re interested in them and now have something to talk about! As a side note, I usually do my reading in conjunction with my time with God. I usually spend about 30 minutes studying God’s word and 30 minutes reading outside sources. You don’t have to do it that way, but that just helps me keep it all together!

Take Sermon Notes

Your pastor may be more pastor than preacher, and if so, than listening to their sermon can be a huge issue. Yet, you can overcome this if you take sermon notes. Sermon notes help you stay focused because you are intentionally trying to find something that applicable to your life. If you want to take it further, use social media to your advantage. Facebook or Tweet what your pastor says. Just make sure you let your pastor and your students know what you’re doing, so they don’t think you’re playing on your phone!

Listen To Sermons Online

What I love about the day in age we live in is the access we have to so many great perspectives on God. Preachers can have two audiences now: their congregation and the whole world. So if your pastor isn’t the greatest preacher in the world go find one online who is and start listening to what they have to say. As a caution, don’t compare the preaching styles of your pastor and the preacher you’re listening to online. It can create a negative attitude towards your pastor and that’s the last thing you need.

Network

Find people who are in ministry like you and meet with them. Having fellowship provides you with a fresh of breath air because you’re getting the chance to share your joys and frustrations with someone who gets it. I don’t know how many times my spirit has been renewed because of the group of guys I meet with on a monthly basis. Our faith was always meant to be done in community, don’t forget about that. Furthermore, don’t just network online, go out and actually meet someone. If you’re not sure how to do that, go check out this post I wrote for Youth Ministry Media.

In the end, if you’re not spiritually healthy, you’re going to have a hard time feeding the students you are called to shepherd. Furthermore, if you’re not being feed spiritually, than the odds are your spouse isn’t either. Make sure to find out if they’re feeling the same way as you, and if so, take these tips and do them together. Pick a book in the bible, a book, or a sermon to listen to, and go through it together. You can go through it on your own and then discuss what you each learned over dinner. You will be amazed by the conversations you’ll have with each other! So now that you have your tools, its open season!