Staying rooted in Scripture
By: Justin Caton
If you're reading this, I'm guessing you're in the trenches of student ministry-leading small groups, planning sermons, navigating TikTok trends, and wondering if your MDWK activities are actually connecting to anyone in the room. I get it. I'm right there with you, but I want to talk about something that's easy to lose sight of in the chaos and that’s staying rooted in the Word of God- not for a message- not for a devotional-not even for a student's spiritual breakthrough. The importance of staying rooted in the Word is so much more than a job - it’s for your relationship with God. If you're not personally abiding in the Word, you and your ministry will eventually only run on fumes. Abide in Me, and I in you. These words from John 15:4 aren't a suggestion. They're the lifeline of ministry. Without abiding in Christ, without staying rooted in His Word, our labor becomes just that—labor. Tiring. Draining. Fruitless.
Ministry Can't Be Your Quiet Time
There was a season when I tricked myself into thinking prepping for Wednesday night counted as my time with God. I'd skim a passage, pull out some points, and feel "spiritually productive" and it was all outward-focused. I was feeding others without feeding myself. In the end, it caught up with me. The dreaded words I thought would never happen to me- “burnout and insecurity.” The spiritual dryness of showing up every week, not filled with my personal Word from God, led me to defeat in my calling of student ministry. I had neglected the one thing that fuels everything else: intimacy with Jesus through His Word.
The Word Shapes Us First
Here's what I've learned: If the Word of God doesn't change me first, I have no business trying to use it to change someone else. Before the Bible is a tool for ministry, it's food for my soul. It's not just about being informed; it's about being transformed. When I sit with Scripture, not just to teach it but to be taught by it, something shifts. My heart gets realigned. My motives get checked. My confidence grows-not in my ability, but in His truth.
So How Do We Stay Rooted?
Here are a few things that have helped me:
1. Protect personal time in the Word like it's sacred.
BECAUSE IT IS. I must treat it like a non-negotiable meeting with the most important Person in my life. Early morning, late night, lunch break-whatever works. Just make it yours and God’s time only!
2. Let the Word speak to you before it speaks through you.
Before I ask, "What will I say to them?" I ask, "God, what are You saying to me?"
3. Stop trying to impress-start trying to abide.
Ministry can tempt us to perform, but our strength doesn't come from performance; it comes from presence-His presence, cultivated through the Word.
4. Get real accountability.
Find someone who loves Jesus and loves you enough to ask: "What's God teaching you in the Word this week?" Not for content purposes but for application in your everyday life.
5. Embrace the Struggles.
Jonathan Pokluda, lead pastor at Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco Texas said “Christianity does not grow well in seasons of comfort. It just doesn’t. It grows fast and it grows big, but it does not grow strong.” If we want our ministry to grow strong in quality and not just quantity, we have to be willing to endure the struggles. In that same statement, the only way to endure struggles and face the fiery darts of Satan is to be rooted in the Word. We cannot be consumed by how “fun” an event we are planning or how “comfortable” MDWK is so that our numbers grow big. We have to be ready for the next “struggle, trial, or hardship” from our enemy. The one and only way to be ready for his devious plan is to be rooted in the ONE who is victorious over death and the grave.
Ministry is a marathon, not a sprint. If we want to finish well, not just survive, we've got to stay rooted in the only thing that lasts: the Word of God. So wherever this finds you-exhausted, fired up, overwhelmed, or somewhere in between-just know this: Your time in the Word matters. Not because it makes you a better pastor, but because it keeps you close to Jesus and that's what your students need more than anything: a leader who walks with Him.