5 Dangers of Always Being On

Here’s a few recent thoughts about the dangers of always “being on” in youth ministry:

You’re only in problem-solving mode
You’re so busy solving other people’s problems you don’t think about your own issues. When the pace of life increases, we tend to focus on helping others, and not ourselves. Every message is applied to someone else’s situation, every learning is to be taught to another audience. One of the dangers of always being on is that until you turn it off you won’t look deeply into your own life. I wonder sometimes if busyness and others-focused-to-a-fault is to protect the real me from coming to the surface.

You sacrifice those that matter most
Always being on robs from those you would be with if you were off. And while taking your son with you to an event is one thing … calling summer camp with your wife vacation is not. When you are always on as a pastor, you justify the need to do ministry and know those that love you the most will show you the most grace.

You hold the ministry too tightly
If you’re always working, there’s nothing left to lead and no decisions to be made. When you’re gone or off, other people have to step up. Loosening the grip of leadership and control allows others to take responsibility. Ironically, the very thing you would say you need to help turn things off only happens when you let go.

You begin to take shortcuts
In an effort to slow down the pace or at least pace yourself for the rest of the youth ministry “on” marathon - you’ve only got two options - well, 3, if you count death as one. 1) you can simply run faster. Dig deeper, work later and try harder and get it all done. Or, 2) you can take shortcuts. It starts with the small things to help you save time, but eventually spirals into spiritual and character issues. When you run hard and don’t stop, at some point you’ve got to try and stop the pain so you cut through no man’s land and hope you don’t get caught.

You will eventually leave youth ministry
Here’s the endgame - if you don’t quit every once in a while, you will eventually quit altogether. Youth ministry can be a tireless machine of good in the life of students. It can be a tireless machine that chews up good youth workers, too. I’ve been doing youth ministry long enough to see so many leave this calling/profession. There’s a lot of good reasons to quit, you being irresponsible with your time and always being on is certainly not one of them.

Take some time OFF and get a break from always being ON. You’ll be better off for it, I promise.

Taken from Josh at www.MoreThanDodgeball.com