Helping Your Young Ministers

Here’s a couple quick thoughts on how to help young ministers grow in their ministry (and in themselves):

1. Allow Them to Fail. Lessons learned from success are almost as valuable as lessons learned from failure. Let young ministers try something new. Sometimes they’ll succeed, sometimes they won’t. But either way, they can learn from their results.
2. Defined Expectations. Young minsters need to know the “rules of the game”. Let them know what you need from them, what you require, what you care about and what you don’t. This will help define the whats and hows of their ministry.
3. Give Opportunities to Preach. Sharing the pulpit may seem like a risk, but nothing will mature your young minister more. And when they rise to the occasion, the church will applaud you for giving the next generation the chance to grow.
4. Encourage education. It’s more important now than ever that young minsters be theologically grounded. The world is getting smarter while the pulpit is becoming increasingly unintelligent. With the availability of online classes, certificate programs, bible colleges, and seminaries there’s no reason we can’t be good stewards of our mind.
5. Let them be themselves. Your young minister won’t be you and if you hold them to your methods they will never reach their full potential. They will be most effective by being themselves, the person that God crafted and made them to be in ministry.