Three essential daily disciplines of a youth pastor.

Whether you like it or not, the ministry will reflect your spiritual values. I’m pretty sure you don’t want your ministry to be apathetic, lazy and disinterested. I also don’t believe any of us want minister with the “don’t do what I do” principle. Where we stand in front of our students and encourage them to get in the Word daily, and we never do! Or share the gospel with your friends, and we never do. I’m guilty of this! When I started to discipline myself in some essential disciplines is the moment I stood in front of our students with godly confidence declaring God’s presence and activity in their lives, because I experienced it throughout the week. Yes, there are more than 3 spiritual disciplines, but I have found these three to be life giving and keeps me on track in my spiritual life. Here are my thoughts on three different spiritual disciplines I feel are essential for every youth pastor, and I have found to be true.

• Daily Bible intake. We have to schedule it. I’m typically up at 5:15am every day. (Even on Saturday & Sunday’s) I’m not saying the way I do it is right, I’ve just learned the value of getting my day started with intention. Get some sleep. (Early risers hate this one) Go to bed at a reasonable time so you can get up to spend time in the Word. My pastor says it this way, “Go to bed on time, so you can get up on time, so you can spend time with God.”
  
  Have a plan. I read through the “One Year Bible” every year. Yes… every year. It’s the foundation of my time with the Lord and then I add other types of devotionals on top of it. Without a plan you may struggle with being consistent.
  
• Daily solitude and prayer. Create margin for prayer whenever you have your quiet time. This goes without saying and majority of us have got this down, but here’s reality. Most pastors spend an average of 4 minutes a day in prayer! Let it not be said of us. I typically close my Bible and spend about 10-15 minutes in silence, solitude and prayer. It’s so life-giving when I shut things down in my heart and head and just listen.
  
  Another idea is to take time each week to walk your student ministry space. Seek the Lord in silence taking some intentional time to ask for His presence to fill the space. I do this every Wednesday morning in preparation for our midweek service. It’s time well spent.
  
• Daily relational check ins. There are some important people in your life who need your attention. Your spouse, your kids, your team, and some of your strategic leaders. These people need you and you need them! These are people you live life with. Whether you text them or hug them, they need to know you’re with them. “As iron sharpens iron..”

The pitfall here is pride. Believing you are “spiritually mature” to miss a day (or two) of Bible intake or skipping out on intentional prayer. After all you’re the pastor of the ministry right? Pride. Standing in front of your students and lying about you overcoming sin, when in reality you haven’t confessed a thing! Pride. Meeting with a parent and encouraging them to get up early and pray over the bedroom doors of their kids (which is a good thing!) and you haven’t even tried to do it with your kids. Pride. There is so much peace when we can encourage our students to live godly lives when we are striving for godliness ourselves.

Your ministry doesn’t depend on you… it depends on Jesus! Remove your pride. Fight against fleshly performance and success. Stay humble. Get on your knees daily. Shelter under His wings, letting the Holy Spirit be your guide. The Holy Spirit is not going to speak in your chaos and pride. Stay humble and desperate in your daily disciplines and allow Him to work in your life which in turn will translate in your ministry to your students.

We just need to have the spiritual integrity to lead with the right motives and have a spiritual bent. The only way this can happen in our ministry is through spiritual honesty and integrity. To lead people to Jesus as you pursue Jesus yourself. The spiritual disciplines are essential to spiritual success in your ministry. If the minister goes, so goes the ministry.

Need some advice or someone to pray with? Set up a time to meet with me. I promise to listen, encourage, dust you off and kick you back in! I’d love to come alongside you and talk more about how the spiritual life of the youth pastor impacts the ministry.