I've been thinking a little bit lately about what sort of cost there is to a church that wants to run a thriving and growing Youth Ministry. I'll give you my initial three thoughts, but I'd love you all to add your wisdom and insights from your experiences, reading etc.
- Youth Ministry makes you (the church) no money (that is they don't tend to tithe) and costs you a lot (youth pastor, budget to buy stuff, bigger electricity bills, bigger maintenance bill after we break everything in the church).
- Youth aren't that helpful. They are messy, they don't put the cups back in the right order, they don't tend to use neat systems. They are selfish (Aren't we all?) and they don't see (generally) past their own interests. This is not all bad. It's more just a life stage thing. We can't make youth be like 50 year olds.
- Youth Ministry is edgy. This will challenge you because your a Christian and you're probably not edgy but conservative.
- This is yours to add in the comments...
Posted on Friday, April 08, 2011
by
Chris
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI think you make some good points. I haven't thought too much about this before, but it strikes me that there are some very real costs that a church takes on when it decides to have a youth ministry.
A couple of other things that might be included in your list would be:
1. An abundant use of young adult resources. It is usual that YAs are used as the main leaders of a youth ministry. Their time, energy and usefulness can be taken up by youth ministry 'stuff' rather than being involved in other ministries of the church or direct evangelism that they might do on a Friday night for example. Are we taking YAs away from ministry to peers?
2. An inflexible church structure. By this i mean that once a youth pastor is employed, or even a youth ministry is developed, the church is locked into a generational structure. Surrounding the youth ministry there is usually an expectation that this will flow on to a young adult ministry, let alone a children's or families ministry before it - soon enough the structure is generational.
That's me just talking out loud. I think it is something worth exploring more. There are obviously plenty of advantages to a YM, otherwise we wouldn't be in it, but you raise a good issue.
Cheers.
I reckon it would be great to focus on the great investment (rather then cost) of having a youth ministry brings... speaking from my particular contesxt I see the return on investment in a number of ways:
ReplyDelete1. They bring a passion of expression.
2. Youth know how to dream.
3. Youth have way more energy and life then the older ones in our congregation.
4. Youth aren't as afraid of change.
5. Youth ARE very helpful... they make up 80% of our worship team, they serve in kids ministry, they bring a sunday morning service to life, they help out with cleaning in our church, they serve in our hospitality team, (a couple of them are kick ass baristas now)...
6. They may not give financially while they're in high school but if they grow up loving the church, if they have been encouraged and empowered to live life tight with Jesus then they will live and give generously in every sphere of their worlds... including the church.
Just a few of the things young people have contributed to my life and my church...
I believe the investment into a youth ministry is completely outweighed by the amazing return it brings into the life of a church...
Bless ya mate - Cory
Thanks for your comments Jon and Cory.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I better make clear, of course I think Youth are awesome, and they do contribute heaps of awesome stuff, including much of the stuff Cory lists. My post was not speaking to the minds of youth pastors but to people who (perhaps we encounter more typically in Anglican circles?) really want youth simply to conform to their ways of doing things. What I'm saying is if you want thriving youth ministry you're going to have to let go of things. Is it bad that things get messy, or cups don't get put back in the right colour coded order or that the heaters run all night long for a youth all-nighter? Not at all. But for some people, that is a cost that they might not want to pay unless we tell them they need to pay it.
They might not like that people wont all be wearing their Sunday best anymore, or that things will change because of the presence of youth.
I couldn't agree more that "investment into a youth ministry is completely outweighed by the amazing return it brings into the life of a church". But we need to think about some of the things people hold dear and help them make the shift and count the cost of giving up things in order for a youth ministry to thrive.
Does that kinda make more sense where I was coming from?
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteI like the way you chose to phrase this post. Most of us are so caught up in youth ministry/work that it can be difficult to look at things critically.
I would add to your list the difficult emotional cost (for the youth minister, their family, and the church) of discipling a bunch of teens who may well never develop a clear faith, but need to be loved anyway! The heartache, angst, and potential fallout call be incredibly draining.
I would agree with the comment above though, that the life, energy and passion from young people totally makes any cost worthwhile! :)
Thanks Jon.
ReplyDeleteI think that's a great addition. That the youth may never develop a faith, and the ones that do... well they probably won't stick around (and the best ones will probably end up running their own churches!)
A truly global kingdom mindset is needed!