Are You Optimistic or Naive?

Written by Aaron Helman

Which kind of youth ministry leader are you – optimistic or naive?

Most of us would say we’re optimistic, but in reality many of us are really naive!

Let me explain.

I sat in a meeting of youth pastors several years ago that made me want to tear my hair out.

They were planning this large scale ministry program that was identical in every way to a large scale ministry program that had just totally failed.

They realized that this thing had failed, and acknowledged that they were planning to do the same thing again – without any modification!

But when I challenged them on it, I heard a familiar reply:

“Aaron, I guess we’re coming from a place of optimism and you’re coming from a place of pessimism.”

Ouch.

I actually think that I’m a very optimistic guy; it’s just that I think about that word a lot differently than the rest of the people around that table.

It’s good to be optimistic; just make sure that your optimism is rooted in faith and wisdom.

An optimism rooted in faith is one where you can have confidence in a plan because you are assured that this is the direction that God is leading you. You’re free to pursue any kind of plan, no matter how silly or stupid it seems, when you’re trust and follow the leading of God.

For example, the storming of Jericho was, militarily, an objectively stupid plan. But when it’s a plan of God’s leading, objectively stupid isn’t such a big deal anymore.

Confident that God is leading you? Then follow, and feel free to be optimistic.

An optimism rooted in wisdom is one where thought and counsel have helped you develop a plan worth trusting in. If you’re rebuilding a failed ministry program, that means addressing the reasons it failed.

Implementing strategies from a new youth ministry book or from conversation with other youth workers is an example of rooting your optimism in wisdom. I’m good with that.

At that meeting all those years ago, I asked if anyone had thought about how we might address the reasons the program failed in the first place.

“Not really.”

I also asked if anyone had spent more than a few cursory minutes in prayer and silence to ask for God to lead them into this new endeavor.

“Not yet.”

They didn’t have a plan. They didn’t have a calling. But they did have optimism, and here’s the problem with that:

Optimism without reason isn’t optimism at all. It’s naivety.

As youth workers begin to plan new events and programs for a new school year, we’ve got to push aside our naivety. If last year’s schedule was more than you could handle, you can’t schedule even more this year just because you feel good about it.

If an event bombed last time, don’t do it again unless you’ve addressed its issues or if God is making it clear that you should try again.

So, which one are you? Naive or optimistic?

NAIVE:  Let’s try that again. I think we’ll have more kids sign up this time.
OPTIMISTIC:  Let’s change the date and lower the price. Then more kids will be able to sign up.

NAIVE: February was too busy last year, but we’ll be able to figure it out next year.
OPTIMISTIC: I’ll bring in a guest speaker in February to free myself up to focus on other things.

NAIVE: If God wants us to do this, he’ll make a way.
OPTIMISTIC: I’ve spent a lot of time praying about this, and I really do believe that this is where God is leading us.

Help me write a few more of these, and leave a comment below.

How do you make sure that your optimism is rooted in faith or wisdom?

We’d love to hear about it.

Aaron Helman is on a mission to end youth worker burnout by providing the training and resources that you haven’t been taught… until now. Smarter Youth Ministry exists to help you learn how to manage their time and resources better so that you can do more ministry with less frustration. All of that having been said, you most likely know him as the creator of “Lamentation or Taylor Swift Lyric.”