Rule 1: Run a ministry that fires you up rather than wears you out

Rule 2: God is in control—don’t be a control freak

Rule 3: Work for a good boss

Rule 4: Get some sleep

Do you remember that Monty Python skit about the Four Yorkshiremen? They sat around reminiscing about the past and how bad it was. “Luxury” was one of the words they would use. “We used to live in a hole in the ground.” “We had to live in a lake.” “Lake! There were a 150 of us in a shoebox!” And on it goes.

A few years back there was a similar trend in youth ministry … and remnants of it still exist today. It seemed that the common trend was to boast about how little sleep you got the previous night. “Six hours? Luxury … I only had four!” was a conversation I overheard a few times. Even in ministry this became somewhat common—“Sleep? Luxury! Who needs sleep?” Well, let me answer that by saying, “You do! And lots of it.” It is not “luxury” to get a good amount of sleep. Nor is it godly to get a minimal amount of sleep. In fact, it can be ministry suicide. Your body, your mind and your spirit have been designed to rest and rest hard!

Here is why I tell you this, you need it … and, many of you do not sleep enough. And, if you do not get enough sleep, you probably will find ministry very tough going.

Youth leaders need energy; physical, mental, and spiritual. You also need your creative juices to flow. You can only do this if you are running on a tank with some gas in it. This, in part, must come through a healthy night’s sleep.

I won’t bombard you with the research out there but, needless to say, the people in the labcoats are saying “it is important, get some sleep tonight.” With this in mind, may I make some suggestions?

  1. If you have important things to do in the morning, turn the unimportant things off in the evening. You know what I’m talking about: your computer, your gaming device, your cellphone, your TV, etc. Whatever keeps your brain ‘on’ needs to go ‘off’’.
  2. If you have important things to do in the evening, don’t back it up with something important the next morning. I know this is impossible to do all the time, but work on this as a general rule: late nights need to be followed by more relaxed mornings. I have found that, in ministry, we can often loosen our schedule up to accommodate this.
  3. Have a good sleep in at least twice per week. I have no science to back this up—just my own experience, but every couple of days schedule in a good long night.
  4. Have a few mornings that are program free. I have found that I need at least two mornings per week to myself. These are times to catch up on my reading, spend some time writing, take a walk or simply grab a coffee and chill. While this may not relate directly to sleep, they will happen a lot more naturally after a good night’s rest.
  5. Get rid of guilt. Many of us actually feel guilty for sleeping. Sleep is a gift to us from the giver of all good things. Sure, if you are lazy, feel guilty, because you are guilty. However, if you aren’t a sluggard, grab a good nine hours and wake up smiling and guilt-free. Remember the words of Psalm 127:2:

It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest,
eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives to his beloved sleep

One final word to those introverts out there

Youth ministry tends to favor the extrovert. I don’t mean the “hand me the microphone and get me in front of a crowd” type of extrovert. I mean those of us who like being in a group of people. That is me, I like parties and I love big youth gatherings. However, that is not everyone. Many of us tend to like to be alone or with a smaller group of people. Two things need to be said here:

  1. We need more introverts in ministry. For far too long youth ministry has been about crowds and noise rather than intimacy and depth. Let’s make sure we get some balance and find a way for the introverts among us to be involved in youth ministry.
  2. If you are an introvert in youth ministry, it is imperative that you get a large quantity of alone time. This is not ungodly—it is the way the Creator has designed you. In my mind your need to get away is similar to everyone’s need for sleep, you need to recharge and refresh. Please do not feel guilty for keeping your schedule from being jam packed with events filled with people. That is the quick road to ministry death. You must learn to keep a balance of the necessary group activities with quieter times for personal space.

If you are an introvert, I hereby free you to have hours (and hours) of time during your week to take a walk by yourself, sit in a coffee shop and read/prepare, go see a movie or simply sit at home for a few hours each day by yourself.