What to do when you go to a New Church

I have been out of service for a few weeks as I have made a transition to a church in North Carolina. God has been so amazing in answering our prayer requests during our move and I am so thankful to see all He is doing. Thanks for your prayers and I am excited to see what God is doing.

For those who are starting a position in a new church here are some thoughts on some first things to do:

1) Get to know the heart of the church and the staff. Spend time asking questions and getting to know who your working with.

2) Spend time with Leaders in the youth ministry. Set up meetings with them in the first 2 weeks and get a feel of what their expectations are for the student ministry. Remember they are the ones who have been carrying the youth ministry while the church has been looking for a new youth pastor. Find out what they see are the biggest needs. Remember, whatever their expectations of the youth ministry are they will judge your success or failure on those things. If that is not what your heart and passion is then you need to communicate to them clearly what your passion and giftedness are.

3) Spend time with parents. Get to know the parents. Within the first month try and set up a parent gathering to be able to cast vision. Listen to the parents. There are needs that they see their kids have and you want to be sure to address those needs.

4) Get to know the students by name. It is very important that you know their name. It makes someone feel so good when they here someone use their name.
Sometimes youth pastors can make the mistake and just try and spend all their time with the students the first few weeks. Be sure that you focus on all 4 of these areas. Pray through the vision God has given you for that church and then lead the leaders and parents there and love the students and you will see God do amazing things.

The more people you can include in the loop the better you will be.

Kevin