rest

Have you ever been sick on youth group night or Sunday morning? Has the flu surprised you the day of youth group? Have you experienced prolonged illness that kept you out of service for a good amount of time?

The longer I serve in ministry, especially student ministry, the more convinced I become that having a sick plan is a necessity. Trips can allow for illnesses to spread quickly. Winter months see a drastic increase in cold, flu, Covid, and other illnesses.

And then there’s always the unexpected sickness or health concern that creeps up. Family members may get sick and need help at home. And if this is the case, how do we handle those moments when we can’t be at our ministry? Is there a game plan? Do your volunteers know what the plan is? How is that information communicated to your leaders, students, and families?

Today I want to help you think through these moments by providing tangible steps you can take to address these concerns. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, but more of an à la carte approach where you can pick and choose the steps that work best for you and your ministry.

Take a sick day.

Sometimes we just want to work through whatever illness we are wrestling with, but that’s a poor approach to take. Showing up sick can put others at risk, it depletes you even more, and it communicates to your team that it’s okay to show up sick, which can lead to illnesses being spread quickly and more often. So take a sick day, rest, recoup, and come back when you’re healthy.

Have a backup teacher.

One of the truths we must come to terms with is that our programs and ministries can and will exist without us. It’s a hard truth to reckon with, but a truth nonetheless. For many years I wrestled with this and convinced myself of the lie that the ministries I oversaw couldn’t exist without me.

It took a mental health leave for me to see that these ministries will not only exist without me, but can flourish as well. And I saw this truth through our leaders who stepped up and utilized their gifts. I became much more aware that I have gifted communicators on my team and I should be empowering them to serve. One of them has actually come to me and said, “If you ever need to bail, for any reason, I’ll have a lesson ready to go.”

This taught me so much and I want to encourage you to seek out and have backup teachers ready for when you can’t be present. No, it won’t be in the series you’re doing and no it won’t be what you had prepared. But God will use those individuals and His Word to help your students grow and flourish. So find different people who can step in for you when you’re sick (and a bonus tip: use them even when you are not sick and watch how different voices resonate with your students).

Build a communication plan.

This is important across your ministry as a whole, but having a communication plan for illness is key. Who will you tell? Who gets told first? What’s the communication say? Is it intentional, informational, or both? Drafting a plan for how communication goes out, to whom it goes out to, and what it says is key.

My mentality is to start with my leaders because they help in communicating any change to their students. They have more established communication lines so it makes sense to start there. We then email families and post across our media channels.

Our emails contain information that is needed about any change or cancelation, but they also provide intentional touch points. We provide ways for families to connect like cooking or baking together with recipes, or watching a movie and discussing it. We highlight ways to engage in worship, and we even point to a passage in Scripture that they could discuss.

Now all of this sounds great, but when you’re sick no one wants to spend the time writing all of this out. So prepare it ahead of time and have it ready to go when needed.

Have a plan for Sunday morning and youth group evenings.

As you think about the two prior points, it’s also important to have a plan for how your programming will function when you are not present. Have you taught people how to set things up? Have you shared your expectations? Do people know what to do in different scenarios like if a student gets hurt or if there’s a fire alarm?

Often times youth workers handle their own set up and know the ins and outs of tech, lighting, and how to open and close up the church; but do the people filling in for you know how to do all of that? Training, equipping, and empowering others to handle this means building a plan for them and helping them understand that plan.

At the end of the day, there will be times you are not present at youth group or church. That is okay, and you should be encouraged to take sick days and vacation time. But how will your ministry do without you? Is it build upon you and your identity (or perhaps is your identity wrapped up in it), or is it sustainable because it’s built around Christ? Have you empowered others to lead in your absence? Do you have a plan for when you are not there?

By preparing ahead, you are setting your team and ministry up for success. Take the necessary steps to be proactive rather than reactive and watch your ministry flourish even if you’re sick.

I don’t know if you have leaders like I do, but I’ve noticed that my leaders tend to give 110% all year long. They show up not just when we have programming, but they also go to activities, stay late or come in early to talk to students, engage over the phone and social media, and put in countless hours on trips.

But have you ever considered encouraging them to take a break? I know that for some of you this is an obvious “yes” but for others it’s probably a “no.” I’ve worked in environments where the expectations on leaders is they keep showing up year round and if they had to take a break it was frowned upon. And then others where there’s no structure and people just come and go.

What I’m arguing for is a balanced approach where there is structure and expectations but not to the degree of overworking or burning out our people. We need to actually encourage them and challenge them to pause and refresh so they are the best version of themselves and ready to pour into our students. But how do we do that?

Model it.

Pause and consider this for a second. Do you model resting well? Are you showing your people that taking a Sabbath isn’t just a good thing but something we are commanded to do by God? Have you taken breaks, retreats, or a rest day? If we aren’t modeling resting well to our people, then why should they rest?

We need to highlight, talk about, and model rest to our people. Help them to know how to rest well. Show them that resting isn’t quitting. Help them to see why we all need to rest.

Encourage it.

This is similar to modeling rest, but it’s now being spoken out loud. Talk about rest. Highlight its importance. Bring it up in group settings and in one on one conversations. By encouraging rest, we are helping to keep our leaders from overworking, overcommitting, and burning out.

It is a preemptive approach and a biblical one that we often push to the side. So by highlighting and talking about it, we are encouraging our leaders to be more in tune with living as Jesus has called us to live.

Respect boundaries.

This is key! When was the last time someone texted or called you on your day off? Or maybe the question is this: when did you last check your work inbox or think about all the stuff you had to do at work on your day off?

The truth is we aren’t always great at respecting our own boundaries, so why do we think we will respect them period? What we need to do is start setting boundaries for ourselves, and by modeling that to others and encouraging them to have boundaries, we are helping them to build rhythms of rest into their lives.

Encourage them to have “do not disturb” set on their phones. Challenge them to disconnect at times. Remind them that they don’t need to be all things to all people which means they don’t always have to respond. Help them to be present in the moments rather than always be engaged outside of the moment (i.e. when you’re with family, you are fully present with them). These rhythms will help them to breathe, pause, and rest in ways that we should.

Schedule breaks.

One practical way you can help your leaders rest is by intentionally scheduling breaks for your program. Take time off around major holidays, take a break before or after a trip, consider shifting summer programming, or just schedule regular sabbaths in for the team. When you incorporate intentional breaks and communicate the “why” behind the break, you’re caring well for your team and helping them embrace rest.

Communicate the “why.”

Just like I shared above, communicating the “why” behind rest periods is essential. You’re highlighting your reasoning, the biblical support, and the value this is for your ministry, leaders, and families. So when you communicate this, remember to communicate not just to leaders but also to families. Help them to see the why, and encourage them to rest as well.

Tag: rest

Quick Tip: Have a Sick Plan

By preparing ahead, you are setting your team and ministry up for success. Take the necessary steps to be proactive rather than reactive and watch your ministry flourish even if you’re sick.

Encouraging Your Leaders to Rest