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Youth Pastor Weekly Schedule: 5 Steps to Prevent Stress & Burnout

youth pastor weekly schedule

Do you use a youth pastor weekly schedule? If not, get started today! The approaching start of a new youth ministry season is the perfect time to create a customized youth pastor weekly schedule. It will help you set priorities and find time for God, your family, and yourself. Plus, a youth pastor weekly schedule will help prevent stress and burnout.

Think about last season. How practical was your youth pastor weekly schedule? Did you accomplish what you wanted to? Did you indeed have the time for things that had priority? Was there enough personal time, time with your family, time to rest?

If not, now is the time to make some changes. Here’s how to make a youth pastor weekly schedule that works for you, your situation, and your ministry.

5 Steps to Create a Youth Pastor Weekly Schedule

1. List your most important roles.

Mind you, I didn’t say tasks or activities. I’m talking about roles, such as parent, spouse, youth pastor, small-group leader, etc. Write down the most important roles you have.

2. Next, list the most important results per role.

What do you want to accomplish this season in each role? Try to define these in practical, concrete terms.

Take the role of small-group leader, for instance. You could define your desired results like this: Hold a small-group session every other week. Have a no-show rate of less than 10%. Have at least weekly contact with all members. Provide pastoral support for those students who need it.

3. Define activities per result per role.

For each desired result, think about what you need to do to actually realize it. And how much time this will cost.

Let’s continue with our small-group example. To hold a session each week, you need one evening of three hours every two weeks, plus two hours every two weeks to prepare the lesson. You also need two hours a week to stay connected via phone calls, texts and social media, plus about four hours a week in face-to-face contact. That brings your total time to 8.5 hours a week for a small group.