You agreed to work as a youth leader in a small church. Maybe you accepted a small salary for doing the job or maybe you are volunteering your time and energy. Whatever the case, the youth ministry is now your responsibility. If you are like most youth leaders in small churches, you probably assume that this job means that you teach youth, counsel with youth, play with youth, and serve with youth. Whatever the youth group is doing, that is your responsibility. Right? I’m not so sure.

Yes, youth ministry should include building relationships with teenagers, teaching them, serving with them, and having fun with them. But, the calling of a youth minister is to lead youth ministry. Imagine you were called to lead the construction of a sky scraper. Since the sky scraper was your responsibility, you determined to place every brick, pour every ounce of concrete, run every wire yourself. I’m not an engineer, but I think that would be a dangerous sky scraper. No one can do everything that needs to  be done to build a sky scraper on his or her own. And I am convinced that no person alone can build a solid youth ministry.

Youth ministry takes teamwork. It takes people who look at things in different ways have different gifts and different passions. Of course, when you get a lot of people involved, you may end up with a lot of different ideas and someone has to coordinate, reign in some and motivate others. THAT is the work of leadership. And, at the end of the day, that is the most important work a youth minister does. Volunteer, part-time, or full time, your most important job is not what you do with teenagers. It is what you do with others who will work with teenagers. By building your team, blending their gifts, and creating a ministry that they are invested in, you expand what you can do as a youth leader. You expand the ways you can reach teenagers and how many of them you can reach.

Yes, it is easier to be a lone ranger when you are in a small church. But don’t use that as an excuse. Build a team.