Profound words spoken to me the other day, by our Pastor of Adult Education when were talking about laying out the Youth preaching schedule. He followed it up by saying “I don’t care if you were the Apostle Paul, you should not be preaching every week”. As youth pastors, it’s really easy to get into the ‘just do it myself mode’, we know your students, they know us, we are paid to work with them, why find someone else or pay someone else to do our job?. Here are a few things that I am considering.
Students learn differently: If you have been around students long enough you know that there are no two that are the same; the same goes for how they learn. Some might engage with your stories, some with the Word itself, some with your practical application of the Bible. Bringing in someone else to teach will give your students a new perspective. I have experienced first hand seeing that ‘Eureka!’ moment when a guest speaker explains something I have been trying to get across in a new way and it clicks! It is powerful to sit and watch your student engage, to see them hearing, see them processing and see them get it!
Preaching take a lot of time: If you write your own messages, it takes significant time to outline, research, and, in many cases, rewrite. It is time consuming when you give the process the time it is due. Prepping to speak to 15 students, or 1500, requires the same level of preparation, and to do that week in and week out takes a lot of time and can become exhausting. Take a week off, bring in someone, take that week to refocus, spend time with your students and enjoy the break, it’s a great time to evaluate things.
Students might like them more: This is the single biggest hesitation I have seen, the insecurity that your students will compare you to the person you bring in. Please hear my encouragement that being the guy people bring in is in many ways easier. Recently we had a guest preacher in our Sunday services, he was talented, hilarious, his stories were new, likely true (we didn’t know him) and he didn’t use any notes! It was a home run, but likely a sermon he shared 20+ times, refining the jokes like a stand up comedian. It’s easy to think that the congregation liked him better, but the reality is that he did a great job, but he doesn’t have to speak every week and come up with new ways to communicate to the same people. You love your students; you know their names, their story and that means a lot more to them than a one off great message.
I am working at preaching no more than 75% of the time, bringing in talented speakers, Youth Pastors, volunteer leaders, para-Church organizations who bring the Gospel in a way that I can’t. New voices bring a fresh outlook, a unique perspective and give the students and you a break. In High School you likely don’t have the same teacher for 6 years, then why should you in Youth? What does your preaching schedule look like?
Geoff Stewart is the Youth Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C. where he oversees Journey Student Ministries. He is married to Lavonne and they have two cats, Norman and Puff Daddy. Geoff Blogs all over the place and tweets often, but not TOO often. Follow him on twitter @geoffcstewart.
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