Assignment:
Part 1
It is my dream to stay in a ministry, particularly a youth ministry, for a long period of time. Part of that is because God has given me a particular passion to disciple teens, but I genuinely want to be at the same place for a while. One of the benefits that I can think of about staying in a youth ministry for a long time is the fact that you watch your students grow through all of their middle and high school years. Our current youth pastor told me about how he had a group of students that he watched grow up from even before 6th grade all the way to graduation. The other intern and I visited his old youth group with him a few months ago and we saw the strong bond that they all still had.
Another benefit to staying in a youth ministry for a long period of time is actually becoming immersed in the culture of your city. In our city, football is king. In order to reach the schools, you have to be in with the football team and culture. Praise God, we have had a chaplain ministry with their team, and have seen some success there; my co-intern actually played on that team. Being there for an extended amount of time enables you to be known by the community. When God gives you favor in the community after being there for a while, parents are more likely to send their students to your church's youth group because you are a known commodity in the area.
I love how Rader mentions that the chances of a teenager staying in church after youth group skyrockets if they had one adult from church significantly involved in their life. [1] One last awesome thing about staying in a place for a long time is that you form relationships with parents who have multiple kids and you are there to equip them to disciple each child they have for the teenage years. Jones includes in his diagram that the church is to be the place where parents are equipped to equip their children. [2] The first student that I ever mentored is now a high school graduate as of a few weeks ago, and his younger brother is going into 7th grade. I did not start mentoring the older brother until he was a sophomore, but now is the perfect time to work with his younger brother and their parents, and prayerfully, he will turn out like the students in our youth pastor's old youth group.
Word Count: 427
[1] Jeremy Rader, "Relationships Are Essential in Student Ministry," Liberty University Online Programs (May 14, 2012).
[2] Timothy Paul Jones, "Family Ministry for the Long-Term," in Family Ministry Field Guide (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2011), 114.
Part 2
Today's students have been through a lot over the last few months. First, they had to deal with a global pandemic that took away their last couple of months of school. Perhaps they lost their in-person graduation ceremony or their prom or their last few weeks of spring sports.
Then, most recently, they have had to deal with the racial tension sweeping our nation after the tragic deaths of AhmaudArbery and George Floyd. Do we want our students to lean into the word of God during these uncertain times or do we want them to lean into how the world wants them to think? This may depend on whether they have long standing relationships with Christian adults outside of their home. If they don't, then they may turn to their friends, the media or other non-believers to shape their worldview in light of these traumatic events.
In light of this need, how do we ensure students develop trust with Christian adults within their youth ministry?
1. The church must recruit adults who are prepared to invest years into a youth ministry and not just look at it as a steppingstone in their pastoral career. As Kent Gregory mentioned in the video presentation this week; the average youth pastor stays in youth ministry for 16 months. 16 months is not enough time to develop the trust needed for a viable long-term relationship.
2. The church must incorporate their youth ministry into the overall strategic vision of the church and not use it as a baby-sitting service or a place to keep students busy while parents attend the main service. There must be a cohesive partnership between the senior pastor, youth pastor and parents which allow the impact of the gospel to penetrate the hearts of the students.
3. Develop a program with the purpose of growing disciples and not just to entertain. Youth pastors can easily get burned out if they are working on a week to week basis with the sole purpose of keeping the student's attention. There must be a long-term plan to teach the gospel, connect with other students and then serve others with the intention of sharing the gospel.
While there are obvious eternal benefits of incorporating these ideas into your youth ministry and the church as a whole; there are also earthly benefits as well.
1. The opportunity to see the children of the teens you once ministered too. Seeing Proverbs 22:6 come to life in the kids of the kids we minister too will make our ministry that much more fulfilling. This is when youth ministry turns into inter-generational ministry which benefits the whole church.
2. Establish the necessary trust so students come to us in times of doubt, anxiety and stress. We want our students to lean into the Lord during these times and not to look towards the world for answers. Only with time do we build that type of trust.
I pray for all of us who are considering going into youth ministry that we look at it as a lifetime journey and not a job to do until the next pastoral opportunity comes along.
WC: 521 words
Kent Gregory, "Longevity in Youth Ministry," Liberty University, February 7, 2018, 13:26,