I have recently come to the end of teaching a course called Growing Leaders.
Those who came held various positions in the church including home groups, men’s groups, ladies’ groups and so on. Only one of the 30 people was a youth leader. It prompted me to ask – how do we ‘grow’ our leaders? Or do we treat them a bit like heather on a moor – leave it alone and it will grow anyway?
Volunteers
In my experience it is the volunteer leaders who lack the input which could make them so much better. The full-timers have courses and conferences they can go to but, for every full-time leader there must be ten volunteers serving in local church youth ministry. They are often hard-pressed in their daily lives with employment, family and church life to be balanced. The question must be asked as to how we support and equip people who are often under daily pressure.
