How to Partner With Other Youth Pastors & Churches

Why is it valuable to build partnerships with other student pastors and student ministries?

This is a great question and one that I’m really passionate about.

The simple truth is that you need to know how to partner with other youth pastors and churches.

I’m going to recommend a book to you. Chris Trent, who is the student pastor at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, wrote a book called Consider This: A Student Minister’s Guide to Longevity. And for those of you who are just starting in your first few years of ministry, there are some foundational principles that if you can learn right on the front end, can equip you for the long haul. Because we need more student ministries that expresses longevity and a commitment over time.

First of all, let’s look at why. In biblical principles, there are many references that we can use. I would point you to Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, “How much better is it if we have someone,” and it ends verse 12, “That a cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

We know this, culture knows this, Corporate America knows this, and networking is common even in the corporate world. Likewise, It should be embraced and even celebrated in our community of faith. So it’s just better to work together. It’s the way God designed the body of Christ to work, 1 Corinthians 12:13-14 demonstrates this.

“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” – 1 Corinthians 12:13-14

There is No Lone Ranger Youth Pastor

We can’t escape the power of the team and the body of Christ should express that. And I would say in your local community, typically it is the student ministry that exhibits the beauty of this the best. In most communities, it’s the youth pastors who are quick to cross over denominational lines, and it’s the youth pastors who tend to be more prone to work together. You’re in a position to not just model this in your ministry, but for the benefit of your whole city to see the body of Christ cooperating together; in this case networking is huge. So I would say that’s why it’s important.

What we tend to do in this in an orphan kind of spirit, maybe it’s pride, ego, insecurity, or whatever may motivate us to be a lone ranger. Lone Ranger was a great Western TV show in the ’50s, but in ministry, I call being a lone ranger ‘being an idiot’. Get over yourself, okay? You cannot do it alone. You’re better together.

4 Tips to Build Valuable Partnerships With Youth Pastors In Your Area

So how can you do this? Well, I’ll give you four things:

1. Initiate. Be proactive. What does Proverbs 18:24 tell us? “A man that has friends must show himself friendly.” If you’re new to a church, to a ministry, or to a community, don’t sit around and wait for somebody to call you. Be proactive and you initiate that contact. “Hey, I wanna go to lunch, I want to go grab coffee, I want to talk more, I want to learn more about your ministry.” So you initiate that contact. And if you are in that initiation, you may find that there’s an existing network, or you may find the opportunity to start one, either way, that’s a win-win. So be proactive.

2. Seek it out. This could sound synonymous with initiating, but here’s the difference- I’m initiating contact, but I’m seeking it out like that jewel to be discovered, and I’m gonna keep initiating contact until I find it or until I create it. And recognize you may need help to do this. I would say this is where your denominational support is tremendously beneficial. Practically, if you are a part of the Baptist denomination, call your local association or missionary, or call your state convention missionary and say, “Help me connect to others.”

Call somebody who may have connections to help you make those connections.

3. Engage early. Here’s what I mean by this. Most of the time, we equate networking with, “I need people to show up to my events so my numbers look better”. Don’t plan an event, produce all the flyers, and then show up at the table and say, “Hey, why don’t you come to my event.” Engage early and actually collaborate with people, “Hey, I got this idea. How could we do this together?”

Get ownership and collaboration on the front end, engage others, then you get buy-in, then you truly see teamwork, then you truly see networking happen.

4. Follow through with relationships. So if you hear of maybe another youth pastor in your community, maybe they had a baby, they’ve gone through a tragedy, or they’re in a dispute and conflict in their church. Follow through, text, phone call, email. In fact, I would make it part of your daily, at least weekly, practice to proactively connect with other youth pastors in your area. Find out how things are going. When can we get together?

Be purposeful with it, and you will watch your community flourish and grow and be amazed at how the benefits start to flow out of that.

This panel discussion question was discussed during a previous youth ministry conference. Click here to listen to the entire panel discussion (of 6+ questions).