Succession planning?

When I was 14 I was part of the church youth group, we didn't do much compared with the many youthwork activities that exist today, but what I can remember is that our youth leader was called Steve and he was there to lead our youth activities every week. I didn't appreciate it then to the degree that I do today, but without his commitment to us as young people I question whether I'd be doing what I am doing today!

Youth work is all about relationships and so much of that is the relationship we as youthworkers have with young people.
Whilst good relationships bring with them authenticity, honesty and openness, they also bring difficulties when trying to plan into the future.

I have seen many youthworks collapse when the youth leader leaves because of the relationship that those young people had with their leader OR because there isn't the volunteer base to carry on the activities without the youth leader.

I think there is need for succession planning, It's something I've been thinking about lately
The question I want to pose is do you have a succession plan, a strategy for the youthwork to continue if you move on or you're not able to make it one night?

In some ways this is as much a commitment to our young people as the many great activities that we do and lead today