When the Fire Dies: Jenny's Story

When the FIre Dies: Jenny's Story

Jenny represents the hundreds, maybe even thousands of youth pastors that struggle with stress, burnout, and the lack of support every year. Her story describes the struggles youth pastors face as they give so much to reach this generation of young people with the power of the Gospel:

Not long ago, a youth pastor emailed us for help. She is relatively new to youth ministry and used to have a lot of passion and excitement. But that fresh energy was starting to die down and she wasn’t sure what to do. We’ll call her Jenny.

Jenny is dedicated and ready to do whatever it takes to disciple the youth in her church. She wants to see them fired up for God and doing things in our community for the Lord. She wants to help students be bold in sharing their faith at school and with friends. She is even thinking about starting a youth center so students would have a place to have fun, learn about God, and stay out of trouble.

She started out so pumped up that she would lie down at night and not be able to sleep because of all ideas flowing through her head!

But after a while, the glimmer and excitement of youth ministry began to fade. Jenny found that youth ministry isn’t always easy. She began to run out of ideas and even began to wonder whether she made the right choice by getting involved with the youth group.

She wanted to keep doing things for her students, but she didn’t know what to do! She had dreams and goals but no idea how to get there. Probably worst of all, Jenny realized that she was going at it alone.

Now Jenny works with one of our coaches regularly. She’s starting to find some of the support she needs as they talk and she is able to share her struggles while she learns ministry and leadership skills. 

Jenny has a lot of potential because she is passionate and driven to do what it takes to minister to the youth in her community. Just giving her a chance to share her dreams and frustrations has made a huge difference for her, and she is hungry to grow so she can be more effective in her ministry.

When you support Called to Youth Ministry, you are building a thriving community that encourages and trains youth pastors like Jenny. They are passionate about discipling youth, but held back by a lack of support and training. You meet these needs through your donations and prayers.

Please prayerfully consider making a donation or monthly pledge to support youth pastors like Jenny.