Yes, it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much
upon maintaining the group. Many people have felt exploited and burnt out by
serving, sacrificing, and bearing burdens beyond what they should have carried.
Yes, ministries can abuse people to perpetuate their own existence, but we
should not abandon the whole endeavor simply because there are pitfalls to
avoid. We are called not to idolize, but utilize, institutions for advancing
the Gospel and building God’s Kingdom. The college ministry I work for and the
church you attend are not God, but they are vehicles for developing healthy
faith communities.
My primary reason for asking students to become leaders is to
empower them. I want to invite them into leadership to give them opportunities
for serving and influencing their community. There is blessing in serving
others, and I do not want to deny students the chance to experience this.
Students should feel they are not just consumers in our group, but co-creators
with us. I want them to know they have a role in helping our group become what
God is calling us to be together. The goal of empowering students is negated by
overtaxing them, and if a student feels overwhelmed I will see that he or she
takes the necessary break from serving. God is not glorified by burnout or
sacrificing someone’s well-being for the task; Jesus came that we might be whole
and healthy.
Also, the ministry is not mine. I am not sole leader, and this is
by design. As a leader, an important job for me is learning to delegate tasks,
vision, and responsibilities. This can be a harder task than it seems. In the
midst of our busy lives in our corporate world, it can be easy to concede to the
old adage that “if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”
There is truth in this saying, but the perspective is focused on the immediate
results and my goal is the long-term growth of students. I have years of
experience facilitating Bible studies compared to the sophomore student who
never has, and while I may be better qualified to lead a small group, my goal
is for students to learn how to do this. Rather than maintaining my control or
the highest standard of quality, when we ask students to lead and serve it can
involve lowering our expectations to create learning opportunities for them. Is
the goal to have excellence now or enable others to learn how? There is a
balance to sacrificing the short-term results in favor of the long-term goal of
empowering of students.
I have also seen and experienced the impact that the opportunity
to lead and serve has on student’s faith and relationship with Jesus. This is
an important criterion to monitor in anyone who is serving our community; the
sacrifice and experience should be developing students’ faith not draining it. Having student leaders also enriches the community. They breakdown the divide
between student and staff, cultivating a leadership of peers within the
group, and they are better able to relate and connect with students outside the
group than someone like myself who has already graduated. While we must be wise and intentional with how to involve others in ministry,
we should not miss this opportunity to see others grow through serving.
Why does your community exist? What is the vision and the goal for
the group? Have you served in your church or faith community before? What was
your experience? How did it affect your faith? What balances do you personally have
from over-committing yourself? How are people able to serve within your body of
faith? Does there need to be more invitations made and space available for
others to serve? Does the group’s culture tend toward burnout? Are you in a
position where you can help others avoid burnout? How do our beliefs about work
affect our assumptions about serving our faith community?
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