Monthly youth leaders column

Any Christian periodical tells the same story. The church is looking for full-time youth workers. Our response to the well-known and frightening statistics is to appoint someone (if we can afford it) to deal with our young people, or lack of them.

But this is not something new. The need has been there for some years and there are now people who have been working as church-based full-timers for a number of years. Some of these people started in smaller churches or worked part-time and have now moved to larger churches where they can work full-time. There are many different roles. Some see themselves as very much hands on who are in daily contact with young people. Some see their roles as evangelists and look for places like schools (or even streets) to serve God. Others work as coordinators with little daily contact. Many youth ministers are not clear about the expectation of their churches and try to juggle several roles, and end up being driven only by the expectations of different parts of their communities.

Where now?

But there is one phenomenon which is beginning to cause concern and can only get worse unless it is addressed. There are now significant numbers of people who have served as full-time youth workers for a considerable length of time. Often in their early or mid-30s most of their working life has been given to serving youth groups. If they are married they will probably have young children and need a ‘family income’ if they are to survive. Such people are beginning to ask ‘where now?’ Is all their experience of dealing with young people (many of whom are now young adults) to be wasted? Some are persuaded that their days in youth ministry were but an apprenticeship for ‘real ministry’ and they must seek ordination as their obvious career pattern. Some simply return to the world of secular employment and, for some, that may be a good path.

Still useful?

But for a person with ten years’ experience of church-based ministry (more than most curates) there has to be a way forward which makes use of their gifts and talents. Perhaps, at first, it is accepting that people in their 30s and 40s still have a role. If our ministry is only culture-driven, then, as we grow older, we have less to offer as we grow away from the culture. If we are working by the biblical model of handing on wisdom from one generation to the next, then a lack of more mature people involved in youth ministry is a tragedy. If maturity in Christ is learned from good role models then such mature people must be around to learn from.

Consider the issue

But, in my conversations with more mature youth ministers, there is a growing sense of anxiety about their future. My concern is that such people are not lost unless God clearly calls them to other work. I fear that some of them will simply drift away from ministry because they run out of options.

As part of Keswick Ministries, we are planning a conference from May 10 to 12 to consider some of these issues. If you fit the description of ‘more mature youth minister’, please join us. The initial response to Peter Brierley’s Reaching and Keeping Teenagers was to appoint someone to solve the problem. We must ask the question — has our response to the problem solved the problem? If not, do we need another solution? The role of the full-time youth worker is moving into a different dimension and the church must respond if many good and experienced people are not to be lost.

Dave Fenton

© Evangelicals Now - April 2005
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