I’ve been in youth ministry both vocationally, as a volunteer, and then back to vocationally for over 12 years. Youth ministry now, not the same as 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. I want to take you back to three years ago, when a student in our ministry attended her first event at our church—a big fall event to start the year. She walked in and we immediately smelled the alcohol. She was wasted.

I learned a valuable lesson and continued growing and learning for the first number of years in youth ministry. Your volunteers need simple to understand expectations, clear roles and obvious ways they can “win” with students. Anyone who gives up their personal time or time with their family needs to find what they are doing to be valuable and that they are doing it well.

As someone who has worked with teenagers for a long time, I know this to be true: they don’t actually care what adults do with their hair or what jeans they wear, or if we send a laugh-cry emoji when we think something’s funny or if we type our text messages in full sentences. It’s true that they don’t think we’re cool, but honestly—that was not a battle that was going to be won, period(t). No longer being cool comes with the territory of adulthood.

Lets cut straight to the chase, the one small shift that can make the greatest difference in your ministry is to give ministry away. I know, not profound, not cutting edge and its not the first time you have every heard this idea. The difference between this idea being a catalyst for your ministry or just another saying you say out loud but do nothing about is what you do next.