How do you find the balance between the present and looking down the road? What’s your secret?

Youth ministry is a week to week endeavor. Sunday and Wednesday are always right around the corner. The next month needs to be advertised, the next quarter needs to be planned. It’s a never ending cycle. And that cycle can become a whirlpool if we’re not careful.

How do we find the balance between pulling off what needs to be done today, but also keeping an eye to the future? Plan months but dream years.

Think in Weeks

We cannot deny the essential nature of the day to day and week to week of what we do. Teaching, coordinating adults, programming, advertising, and so much more needs to go into what we do every week. This is undeniable.

So take some time to think about what needs to happen in a month. What does your weekly rhythm need to look like? What are the key tasks you need to tackle each week?

If you’ve never gone down this rabbit hole: what does your ideal week look like? How would you allocate your time if you had complete control of your time? I’ve been using the Full Focus Planner this quarter, and plan to use it next, as a tool to help me focus my week to week tasks.

If you don’t want to give the Full Focus Planner a try, a simple YouTube search will net plenty of results to keep you busy. Carey Nieuwhof has a solid approach, as well, focusing on what he calls Green Zones, Yellow Zones, and Red Zones – pretty interesting stuff.

Ultimately, though, learn to be present and do the present work.

Dream in Years

This brings us to our ultimate question: How do you know what direction to head now if you don’t know your destination?

Spiritual growth is a slow process. It takes time to see the fruit of our labor. Sometimes we get to see fast results, but it’s rare.

Youth Ministry, as well, is a long game. We have the privilege of working with middle schoolers who grow into high schoolers who grow into (hopefully) high school graduates. So the effort you’re putting into building a relationship with that 7th grade boy has the potential to lead to a Junior or Senior in High School who understands the leadership impact they can have.

But it’s not just about the individual. Pay attention to the ebbs and flows of years – high attendance swings, low attendance swings, high energy pockets and low energy pockets. These rhythms are something you notice over time, but rarely by accident.

Ready. Set. Go.

What does the week vs year balance actually look like? As you think about your week to week and month to month flow, find time to stop and think year to year. Where are you heading? Where do you want to be in 1 year? In 3 years? In 5 years?