Lauren van Vliet, author

I’ve been a youth ministry coordinator for one year and one day. No two days have been exactly the same – similar, but not identical. And that’s part of why I love my job.

In that year, I’ve learn many things. Here are the top 3:

1. Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint – after a serious case of burnout two years ago, I began to approach all areas of my life with this mindset. I wanted my friendships, mental health, and physical health (among other things) to be sustainable for the long term. But starting in ministry full-time in a large parish makes maintaining the marathon mindset a challenge. It is tempting to try and do everything all at once, and to treat every task as an emergency.But the reality is, not everything is an emergency; in fact very few things are true emergencies. Acting like things are emergencies, regardless of whether they are or aren’t, makes it harder to get anything done, let alone the task you actually need to do. It puts too much pressure on everything, and nothing gets accomplished. Instead, the marathon approach focuses on the low-hanging fruit, those areas where I can logically influence change and see results. Reaching for the low-hanging fruit can lead to big programming changes, but in manageable steps, not huge leaps.
2. Communication is key – I love to talk with people (hello extroversion), but it never ceases to amaze what happens with effective communication. Ideas are shared, needs are addressed, and change happens. Making myself available to talk with people of all ages opens up new opportunities to invite people to journey in their faith, whether it’s inviting a teen to Adoration, or a parent to consider volunteering. Sometimes, communicating the needs opens doors I never expected. Our service ministry fair is a prime example. As our program grows, youth ministry needs more volunteers. Simply indicating this at the ministry fair resulted in several new volunteers that I would never have imagined asking. It was passive communication, but it worked!
3. Your ministry will impact your spiritual life – My faith is a web that, for better or worse, connects all the aspects of my life. When I’m feeling energized by my ministry, it generally flows into everything else, including my prayer life. When I’m feeling dry and courting burn out, my spiritual life feels that. But this is like a multi-lane highway, and my friendships, ministry, mental health, physical health, etc. all impact my spirituality, and each other.

As the second year unfolds, I know there are new things to learn, and I’m excited to see how things unfold.