Steadfast in the Sacred: How Contemplative Spaces Renew Youth Ministry Leaders

I’ve spent enough years in youth ministry to know the rhythm of it—the sacrificial giving, the way we pour ourselves out week after week, the unspoken assumption that our own spiritual buckets will somehow remain full even as we lead others to fill theirs. We plan retreats, disciple students, show up at soccer games and crisis moments, and all the while, the quiet fear lingers: What about me? Who fills my cup when I’m running on empty? 

This is the paradox of vocational ministry: we’re called to pour ourselves out, but we’re not always given space or tools to be refilled. And yet, somehow, we keep going. We show up. We give. We serve. That’s why spaces like the Princeton Theological Seminary IYM Forum matter so deeply to me. They aren’t simply conferences—they’re lifelines, a pause to be filled. A place to be, belong, break bread, and be in communion with each other and the divine.  

This year, as I sat in the opening session, I found myself leaning into the theme of steadfastness through community, storytelling, and hope. It’s a word that feels both like a challenge and a promise. In contrast to a culture that measures success by productivity, numbers, and the illusion of having it all together, steadfastness speaks to something deeper in our hearts. It calls us, "Stay. Endure. Remain rooted and rest in your goodness."  

The IYM staff embodied this theme in the way they designed the forum—not as a place to simply absorb information, but as a space to grow, rest, and remember. Each lecture is paired with small group invitations to sacred listening and contemplative integration. Each workshop is paired with invitations to engage with chaplains, naps, play games, or simply be. Each moment of information gathering was also paired with moments of pause, process, and praise. They created environments where youth ministry leaders could both give and receive. Where we could be reminded that our work isn’t just hard—it’s holy. 

One vital word that holds me from the forum is “enough”. We are, and I am enough, yet I left with deeper relationships, several aha moments, and a source of renewal to a steadfastness that isn’t self-emptying. I found what so many others discovered was a richness of connection, community, and trust. Together, we found hope and healing in one another, and we were given moments to reconnect with the sacred, to listen to the Spirit in the quiet places, and to reclaim our own spiritual tether in a vocation that so often calls for self-emptying pace. 

Bringing contemplative practices and sacred listening into my small group at the forum created a sacred space for meaning-making—a space where we could pause, reflect, and be heard.  Contemplative practices, shared vulnerability, and seeing the Imago Dei in each person can transform the way we approach ministry and one another. Not as roles only or even first, or as people who have it all together. But as people who are deeply loved and deeply human and deeply called to the work of God in the world through the ministry of youth and families.  

Find your weekly pauses, remain steadfast, hold onto hope in one another, and know that you are not alone in the hard and holy work of ministry.