A Self Care MOT for Youth Workers

I just returned home from viewing a house that my parents are thinking of moving into. It’s a beautiful property situated on what I can only assume is the steepest Welsh hill known to humankind. It was here that I learned what my van will fail its next MOT on: The handbrake.

 After getting out of the vehicle and locking the door, I heard the unmistakable, gut-twisting sound of a 2.8 tonne Ford Transit straining against its feeble brake cable. Time seemed to slow down as I turned to watch it roll backwards, pointing straight down the hill. By some crazy miracle, I managed to get the key in the lock, my bum on the seat, and my foot on the brake fast enough to avoid a van-sized disaster.

 The moral of story? ... MOTs are really important!

 A Spiritual MOT

If you happen to be reading this outside the UK, the ‘Ministry of Transport Test’ (MOT) is a legal safety check every vehicle on the road must take every year in order to make sure it is actually road worthy. Every car I’ve ever owned – bar one – has failed every MOT, every time.

Sometimes they failed on stupid things like ‘there’s residue on the windscreen below the mirror where a GPS was once suckered on.’ Once or twice however, they have failed on cataclysmic problems. I once owned a Peugeot 406 which needed the entire exhaust system replacing at roughly the same price that I’d bought the car for 8 months earlier. MOTs can kill you.

The truth is that a lack of MOT is much more likely to kill you. What if your brakes are about to fail or your airbags are jammed? Without an MOT you just don’t know what dangers are lurking beneath the surface like a coiled snake, waiting to pounce.

I think this is also true for our Christian lives and ministries. Without a decent spiritual inventory and check-up every once in a while, we could be heading blindly towards burnout and disaster. We could be suffocating under the fog of temptation, struggling against the yoke of celebrity worship, or – as a pastor – just teaching incoherent nonsense to needy people.

In my home church some years ago, a new Associate Pastor arrived and offered ‘spiritual MOTs’ to members of the congregation. Many who took him up on this offer found the time to be refreshing, encouraging, and somewhat of a wakeup call.

This got me to thinking – could we do something like this for youth workers?

A Self-Care MOT Checklist for Youth Workers

I offer here some MOT questions for a Youth Leader to check up on both spirituality and ministry. These questions are aimed at checking your teachability, pride, potential burnout risk, and walk with Jesus. Try and answer a few.

In the last 12 months:

• What training have you attended?
• What books have you read?
• Who have you talked consistently to about the depths of your relationship with Jesus?
• Who have you healthily confessed your sins too?
• What would happen to your ministry if you were suddenly injured and had to take six months off?
• What ministry area have you released a volunteer to take a lead in?
• What things have you said ‘no’ to and why?
• How many complete days off have you taken?
• How many extra days out have you taken to just be with God?
• How many date nights / play-dates / visits with friends have you cancelled & why?
• What key personal shortcoming have you identified and have been working on?
• Which individuals have you consistently and personally discipled?
• How many non-Christians have you connected with?
• How regularly have you started and ended your day with Jesus?
• How would you rate your gratitude level?
• How do you feel when worshipping God with others?
• Are you regularly worshipping God alone?
• Do you speak with God about both trivial and deep things?
• Does God get regular opportunities to speak to you?
• If you made a list of your top five gifts, how many are you using regularly?
• Have you made opportunities to discretely serve others without recognition?
• Can you honestly say you ‘love’ Jesus?

In This for The Long Haul

Last year I wrote a book called Rebooted: Reclaiming youth ministry for the long haul – A biblical framework. One of the biggest drives behind this book was to encourage youth workers to approach their ministry in a healthy and sustainable way so that they can keep going.

I encourage you to make your relationship with Jesus the main thing and pour energy, time and space into that relationship before anything else.

 Take your MOT, look for areas to become a better servant and more loving member of God’s family. Take care of yourself in these ways and you’ll keep going and keep growing – trust me.