In just a couple of weeks, June will be here. Students will be out of school, which means a different pace of ministry for a few months. By now, you probably have at least some of your summer calendar mapped out, especially if you’re taking students on a mission trip or to a summer camp. A good summer ministry calendar’s important, but unless you plan now, there are some important summer activities that you’ll overlook or just won’t get to. Here are some things you should be doing this summer:
Spend some quality time with your family.
If you’re in ministry and you’re married — with or without kids — this one needs to be at the top of your list. Unless you’ve got kids in year-round school, summer affords a lot of opportunities to just hang with your family in ways that you can’t throughout the school months of the year. And you don’t have to go on an expensive Disney Land vacation to do it. Go on hikes. See if a local movie theater does morning family movies for younger kids. Organize “field trips” your family can go on together. Summer is a great time for making memories as a family.
Add new leaders to your volunteer team.
Your fall kick-off may be three months away, but now is the time to strengthen your volunteer team for the fall. Get some coffee appointments on the calendar and start talking to people you’d love to join you in ministry to students. You don’t want to be scrambling for leaders just a couple of weeks before school starts.
Read.
Get a book list together of books you’ve been wanting to read and get reading. Whether you’re someone who hasn’t picked up a book without pictures since high school or a bookworm, set a realistic goal to read a certain number of books that will grow you as a follower of Jesus and as a youth worker.
Hang out with students without an agenda.
Summer’s a great time to hang out with students outside of your regular youth ministry programming. Take a few students to lunch, or ask a handful to help you finish that project in your backyard. It’s a great investment that often can’t happen during the busy school year.
Dream.
Even if you’ve got a full slate of summer programming planned, summer is usually a time when things are a little more low-key. Use some of that extra time to spend extended time reading the Bible and in prayer, dreaming of where God might be leading your church and youth ministry next. Sometimes the rhythm of the school year traps us into thinking that the way we do things is the way it just as to be. Schedule in a few chunks of time — whether a couple of afternoons or entire days — where you can focus on simply listening to God and asking him to guide your church and ministry.
What would you add to this list of things youth workers should do this summer?
