Giving Thanks for Those who Give

 

 "We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.  We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." ~1 Thessalonians 1:2-3

 Paul was really thankful for the believers in Thessalalonica, because they came alongside him in the ministry that God gave him.  As a youth pastor, I am really grateful for the volunteers in my youth ministry who come along side me to reach teenagers for Jesus.  They don't have to sacrifice time away from their families to be here at night.  They don't have to put up with some of the ungrateful teenagers who don't want to obey them or are disrespectful to them week in and week out.  But, for some reason, they do.  That reason, for most of them, is because they do it for Jesus.  They don't volunteer in youth ministry for the recognition.  But, as the youth leader, we should show them that we are grateful for them.  Here are five practical ways you can go about doing this:

1.  Pray for them.

    The more you get to know the people who volunteer in your youth ministry, the more personal the prayer requests become.  The leaders in your youth ministry face temptations and attacks from the enemy just like you do.  Bring them before God to thank Him for them, but also to give them strength to live their lives above reproach.

2.  Remember what they've done.

    I've heard from other youth ministries that they give awards recognizing things that the youth leaders have done.  Maybe they went above and beyond and spent time with their small group outside of the regular youth ministry night.  Maybe they paid to send a student to camp.  Come up with a clever name for an award or a certificate and publicly praise them for it.  Or simply just say "thank you" to them.  It speaks volumes if they know that you saw what they did and recognized them for it.  It doesn't have to be extravagant.

3.  Give them gifts.

    One thing my wife and I like to do for the volunteers in our youth ministry is to give them a small gift at least once a year, usually after the regular youth ministry year is over.  We like to give them some sort of consumable gift and use it to make a pun from it.  Corny?  Yes, but effective.  After last school year when we finished out the year on zoom we bought them some tortilla chips and some really good locally made salsa.  We put a note in it that said "Nacho average youth leader."  It isn't something we came up with on our own.  We saw it on Pinterest.  Tonight I have a leaders meeting.  I am putting together a trail mix to give to each of the leaders before we meet to talk about the ministry.  Trail mix because we are on this journey together.  Each component of the trail mix is going to represent something.  Raisins are an exhortation not to dry up spiritually based on Psalm 1:3.  Peanuts are a reminder of all the crazy we encounter in youth ministry.  And M and M's are a reminder of all the memories and milestones we share together.  This one I came up with on my own.  Sometimes I have enough creativity to do that and sometimes I don't.

4.  Spend time with them.

    One of the best ways to appreciate your volunteers is to have a relationship with them.  As a youth pastor, it is go, go, go all the time.  To take the time out of your busy schedule to do something with your leaders on a personal level shows that you care.  One of my leaders likes to play frisbee golf.  I still have yet to go play a round with him, but I am looking forward to it.  And who doesn't like food?  Just having a volunteer and their spouse over for dinner would be a great way to spend time together without any agenda except to get to know one another better.

5.  Give them something significant to do.

One way to show your leaders that you are thankful for them is to trust them enough to give them something significant in youth ministry to do.  Anybody can make copies, but not everybody can create an event or teach a lesson or spend time with a couple of junior high students outside of the regular youth group night.  Everyone wants to know they've done something worthwhile.  In my opinion, there is nothing more worthwhile than youth ministry.