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Monthly column for youth leaders: jogging for Jesus

A spiritual fitness programme for youth leaders

Last month I introduced the concept of spiritual permafrost. Sometimes we can let our relationship with God get so frozen over that thawing it out takes radical action.

It's easy to feel guilty about stepping back from youth work, but running yourself into the ground doesn't help either you or your young people, and it neither honours God nor provides a healthy role model of the Christian life. But wouldn't it be far better to catch the problem early? Here are some suggestions to keep your own relationship with God on track.

Be disciplined

First and foremost, be disciplined. Have a plan and then stick to it. Make sure that you are regularly making time to read the Bible on your own, and to pray. Most of us, if we made an appointment to do something with one of our friends wouldn't dream of just not turning up. Think of your time of private prayer and study as an appointment with God - and be punctual!

Read the Bible with other people as well. Whether that means with a single person or as part of a group, make sure that you are giving yourself opportunities to be encouraged and challenged by other Christians. One of the big dangers for many of us is to be so busy that we never get to sit in church ourselves. If you run a group which meets while the adult church carries on, make sure that you have another opportunity to meet with other Christians and be fed.

Sometimes our problems with God can be a result of sin in our lives. Take a long hard look. Is there anything that we really need to change? Be honest with yourself and be honest with God. He knows anyway, but until we sort it out with him, unconfessed sin will continue to get in the way. You might find it helpful to make yourself accountable to someone. Find a mature Christian of the same sex as you, and be prepared to be honest with them about the things you struggle with, and to be honest when you stumble. It might be uncomfortable at first, but many people (me included) find that having someone who we are accountable to helps to not give in to temptation in the first place. It isn't only sin that we need to change - what about things which aren't actually wrong, but which don't help us - some time ago I realised that the biggest obstacle to my praying was the fact that I listened to the radio as I woke up, and the songs that got stuck in my head kept distracting me. Is Radio 1 inherently sinful? (now there's a question!) No, but it was keeping me from spending time with God, so I had to make some changes and cut it out of my wake-up routine.

Time out

Time out from youth work and paid work is important too - if you don't have any time just for yourself, then you are too busy and you should maybe think about letting go of some of your responsibilities. Then there is the question of how you spend your free time. Are you the kind of person who benefits most from spending time with others, or do you need peace and solitude to re-charge? Know yourself, and make sure that the time off you do get gives you what you need. This will mean being organised enough to plan how you are going to spend time off before it arrives. Another simple step to take is to get enough sleep - maybe working an extra early night into your weekly programme. It may mean sacrifices, and it may mean missing a favourite TV programme (or videoing it), but you might be surprised at the difference it can make.

Keep fit

Keeping ourselves in decent spiritual health isn't just a question of taking a break from activity. Recently I have started going for physiotherapy on a football injury (see - I am still young and fit: I've got a football injury!) It actually happened some time back and I thought that it would get better with rest. I was wrong. I should have started straight away with carefully chosen exercises to strengthen the weakened muscles. The exercises themselves aren't hard, but they do require discipline. Getting back on track with God can be like that too. Sometimes when we are feeling spiritually wrung out we need a break and a rest (although not a break from God, obviously). But in most cases what we really need is to get on with the work God has given us, and to be strengthened with appropriate exercise. Make sure that your relationship with God is getting it's own spiritual physiotherapy.

Steve Couch