Every summer I start to wonder, "Why did I decide to leave youth ministry?" During the summers I miss the white water rafting trips, camps and other fun things that only youth pastors get paid to do. I do have to admit that it is nice being home with the family during the summer though!
For twelve years of my ministry I was fully engaged in youth ministry. Some of my most exciting experiences in ministry were seeing the gospel click in the life of a teenager. Looking back on my years in youth ministry there are a few things that I would do much differently. Hindsight is 20/20, right?
One of the areas I always struggled with was losing teenagers the end of their junior and through out their senior year. I gave and I have heard all of the excuses of time commitments, priorities, etc, but I wonder if I had changed the way I was doing things if I might of seen different results? Through out most of my youth ministry I was looking for kids to show up. If we can just get them here something great will happen. This mentality produced many gimics and initiatives to bring friends that worked in the short term, but not in the long term. I always wondered...what else can I or we do in order to get kids here?
Over the past two years I have been convinced that attractional youth ministry is dying a junior and senior death. Middle schoolers are attraceted by fun games, loud music and flashes of light but juniors and seniors need something deeper. If you look at your average high school you will see kids accomplishing extraordinary things on the athletic fields, in the hallways/classrooms, and auditoriums. If you look at the average church and youth ministry you will see kids sitting and absorbing information and asking that it be put into practice in their lives. Sitting...absorbing. Maybe even standing, running, jumping and absorbing, but not leading much.
I wonder if simply changing or living into the name could change the focus of many Youth Ministries. What if it was called "Youth in Ministry" or really was "Youth Ministries?" I spent most of my time as a youth minister preparing the show for Wednesday or Sunday night rather than figuring out ways that middle and high school students could use some of their amazing talents to share the love of Christ with the church and the world. If I could go back and do it over I'd invest in students leading 100% of the ministry and programs. Developing student lead mission initiatives, choirs, bands, dramas, sport ministries, mentoring programs, etc. Yes, I would still have Wednesday nights, but I think it would look much different.
I want to hear from you...how does your ministry empower youth to use their giftedness to share the love of Christ? Have you seen juniors and seniors who are invested in this way stick around?
Maybe you are a youth who stayed or left after your junior year...can you let us know what made you stick around or invest in other places?
Great post, Derek. The difference between the sports teams (where teenagers get more invested as they get older -- because they're becoming leaders) vs. the church is an interesting contrast. I think so much of my own story goes back to having a youth minister who led the way that you describe here.
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