Welcome To The Planet
It is no secret that youth ministry has changed and is changing. While there are pockets of youth ministries that still operate under older paradigms, there are many more who are wrestling with how to do youth ministry in this age. Some, after many years of gaining a level of professional recognition, are questioning if the role of youth pastor is even needed anymore. I find that question to be an interesting one. Are we going the way of the dinosaurs? Are we on the verge of extinction?
I say no…
but I also say that perhaps our historical (as short as that history may be) roles need to die, so something new can be birthed.
I think that the days of youth pastors being program directors a.k.a. Julie McCoy need to die, but that doesn’t mean that the youth pastor needs to die with it. We are partly to blame for where we find ourselves. As youth pastors, we believed that we could entertain students into a faith in Jesus. We thought it was necessary to offer alternative events and activities to keep students from engaging in the 3D’s (drinking, drugs & doing it). While this is what most parents wanted, and probably still do, it often left us as glorified babysitters.
As they say, the times they are a changing. As cultural shifts happen at a rapid pace, and as we gain new insights into faith development, as we learn the numbers of students who leave faith after high school, we are left with the feeling that the way we have been doing ministry isn’t effective and not working anymore.
While culture has shifted and is still shifting, the role of youth pastor has been slow to catch up. It’s time to stop thinking like program directors and start thinking like missionaries. While I believe wholeheartedly that youth ministry is the churches responsibility, I don’t think that most churches are equipped for this task. I believe that one of the crucial tasks for youth pastors in the next few years will be to train church members to reach and disciple emerging generations. I’m not just talking about a few leaders, but many. It will be incumbent upon the youth pastor to be the bridge between students and the church. It will be important that churches have a vision and are equipped to raise up the next generations, and it will be important for students to be able to find their ways into those relationships that will be formative for them. It is the youth pastors job to make that happen.
I think that the youth pastor will actually become more important as the stakes get higher, and I hope that churches are able to make the shift.
It’s time to stop being program driven and become missionally driven.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
Awesome, Dave. As our church is looking at hiring a youth pastor again, I passed this on as food for thought. Great stuff.
I love your thoughts. I came into Youth Ministry through the non-religious backdoor and have always seen my role as a mentor than entertainer, so the paradigm shift is exciting for me to see come to fruition.
I was caught by this thought in the last (big) paragraph: “It’s time to stop thinking like program directors and start thinking like missionaries. While I believe wholeheartedly that youth ministry is the churches responsibility, I don’t think that most churches are equipped for this task. I believe that one of the crucial tasks for youth pastors in the next few years will be to train church members to reach and disciple emerging generations. I’m not just talking about a few leaders, but many.”
Perhaps it’s a matter of syntax but maybe it’s more important that we (as youth pastors/workers) think missionally, rather than as missionaries, and that churches need to be responsible for ministering to youth rather having youth ministries. Missional thinking leads to starting where the group is at rather than imposing a vision for a group of people that is our own and perhaps not God’s (think about how badly we’ve messed up the role of missionaries in other countries… I think it can turn out the same in our own backyard if we’re not careful. Similarily, if churches could find a way to focus on ministering to youth rather than creating youth ministries, they might find it easier to move away from the programatic scheme youth ministry has been held captive to and move more into a holistic perspective of ministry that brings the whole church alongside young people instead of a few that have been identified as youth workers.
As for the rest of it I completely agree we do need to figure out how to equip the youth pastors, their churches and the church as a whole. So, how do we do that?
good thoughts, I appreciate the input. I think we are probably saying much the same thing, I think that part of what I meant by missionaries (and you can use missional, which i tend to actually use more), is that someone needs to understand the culture. Any good missionary, learns the customs, language and culture of those they are serving. I don’t think that is much different in youth ministry. I think part of my role is to understand both cultures (youth and church) and be able to help both understand each other, so that students and the church can enter into relationships that are formative and redemptive.
How do we equip churches, yps and the church? That is the million dollar question. I think it will require letting go of old ways of thinking and courage to step into new ways of ministering to youth.