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MINISTRY #9 YOUTH MINISTER...2B OR NOT 2B |
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MINISTRY #8 WHAT ABOUT NUMBERS |
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THE CHURCH ON HIGHER GROUND |
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HOMEPAGE |
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SERMON NETS HOMEPAGE |
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SERMON NETS MENU |
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SERMON NETS ON MINISTRY |
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MINISTRY #1 |
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MINISTRY #2 MINISTRY OR INDUSTRY? |
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MINISTRY #3 personal and corporate |
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MINISTRY #4 personal and corporate |
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MINISTRY #5 personal and corporate |
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MINISTRY #6 personal and corporarte |
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MINISTRY #7 WEB MINISTRY |
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MINISTRY #9 YOUTH MINISTER...2B OR NOT 2B
COULD I BE RIGHT?
This article may be worth a great deal to your ministry, whether you are a Sr. Pastor, Youth Minister or a Layman in your church. Now, what you need to do is read this through before you decide whether you agree with me or not. If you walk out before I finish, you may not even know what I am actually saying. And who knows, I may actually have a good point? If I am wrong, you will be all the wiser and if I am right, you may save your ministry and your church.
WEAKNESS IN SPECIALIZED MINISTRIES
Through the years (since 1965, when I entered Bible College), I have noticed certain characteristics which attend people in SPECIALIZED MINISTRIES. Whether the individual is involved in age specific, gender specific or even role specific ministry, they often loose sight of the greater picture. It is not unusual for people to develop "tunnel vision" or to become "unbalanced" in their overall approach to ministry.
In the sport/art of Body Building, the objective is for an athlete to sculpt their physique into as perfect a body as they can. It is not a matter of just building big biceps muscles, but rather developing the entire body in a symmetrical balance. One part of the body should not overshadow the other parts. The natural flow of body lines should compliment one another. Though some people work on developing specific muscle groups, the ultimate accomplishment is to build the entire body together. Each part of the body should compliment and serve the other parts. This was God's plan for the human body and also for the body of Christ, which we call the Church.
However, it is not unusual to have a person ask an athlete, "Let's see your muscle." Of course they are asking to see how big their arm muscle is. This is the focus of someone who does not understand the scientific use of exercise. Likewise there are people who judge the health and viability of a church on the basis of a specific ministry in the church. Some judge a church by its music, education, singles or its youth ministry. The Church is more than its parts and is more than the sum total of its parts. The Church is an integrated, unified body.
Sometimes they enter their specialized field of service because of personal bias. A person who is deeply interested in music may not pay attention to the preaching, pastoring, teaching, evangelism or any other part of the church's ministry. This happens with those who enter youth ministry. Though the principles in this article are applicable to other areas of ministry, I will focus on "Youth Ministers."
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"
"I told my wife the other day, "I am glad I was never a youth pastor." She looked at me with a little confusion and asked me, "Why." She was not totally taken aback, because she knows that what I say does not always reveal what I am thinking. She knows me well enough to know that I was not speaking against, "Youth Ministers." There must have been something behind my statemtent.
Here are my thoughts about it.
YOUTH MINISTRY...A SELF DESTRUCT BUTTON
Often a church's youth ministry does more to undermine the ministry of the church than to undergird it. When the youth are turned over to a Youth Minister, regardless of his/her age, the youth are usually separated from the rest of the body. After all, if they are still with the rest of the body, can the Youth Minister be earning his money?
Some Youth Ministers see this as a positive thing, and sometimes, the Pastor does too. The youth meet separately from the rest of the congregation, they have activities separate from the congregation, their thoughts and views are separate from the congregation. Before you know it, the youth are separate from the congregation. Though some may want this, it is not the condition of a healthy church, anymore than the young people of a household being separate from the rest of the family. It is that simple. Let's not make it complicated. Yes, there are occasions when the youth will have special events, but that is true for the rest of the congregation as well. There should be youth meetings, but not at the expense of Body Life with the rest of the Church. However, having special times should be that, special times.
I know of churches where the youth only meet together one night a week, and that night is Wednesday, during the midweek service for the church. Maybe it is out of mercy that the youth are not required to meet with the adults. Maybe the adults really are a dull group. Maybe they do not have anything worth while on Wednesday night. Well... FIX THE PROBLEM, don't separate the youth. Don't cover one mistake with another mistake. Be strong, do the right thing no matter how much it hurts. But do the right thing in the right way. Whatever is done must be done in love. Love for God means we do the right thing and love for each other means we do the right thing in love.
Some churches also separate the youth during morning or evening worship service. Separating the youth just creates more problems. There is much that the youth need from a mature and vital congregation. If the adult part of the church is not vibrant and growing, then it needs to be stirred up and brought back to a right relationship with Christ. Obviously I am not referring to meetings or services where there is no interaction, where it is all a one way street. The children and youth need to see adults who are on fire for Jesus. They need to hear and interact with the adults. They don't need to be separated from the adults as if they are a leper colony.
To separate the youth from the rest of the body is not realistic or wise. This kind of separation creates a separation from the rest of the body in many other ways as well. It distances the youth from the rest of the church and fosters an "us/them" attitude. It separates them from the real world of what Church is all about. Church is for the whole man, all of the time. It is for the whole family and all together. The youth should not be kept in their own group and then when they reach a certain age, find themselves facing "the real world" of the adult church. It is like when we go from Jr. High to Sr. High School, even though we know some of the people who are already there and though we are going with our fellow classmates, we still find it to be a shock to our system. Or like when we go from High School to College, we may not know anyone there and we may be the only one from our peer group making that transition. The church should be removing, not creating these hurdles for young people.
However, a young person may find it too easy to just "drop out" of church altogether when they age-out of the youth group. After all, they have been taught to be separate. They have not spent time with the rest of the church. They have not developed relationships with the rest of the church. They do not have the vision of the rest of the church. They do not know the heritage of the rest of the church. They have not learned from the rest of the church. They have nothing in common with the rest of the church. They are not even seen as part of the church by the rest of the church.
Let me point out something here. The losers in this separation are not only the youth, but the rest of the church. The rest of the church does not have the vitality of the youth, the fresh insight of the youth, the friendship of the youth, the dreams of the youth, the new contacts of the youth. If the church separates itself into pieces, its epitaph will be, "Here lies the church, may it Rest In Pieces."
Life is a two way street. In life there is give and take. We must never change from the One Way of Salvation, but we must be willing to give and take in this life. Youth and adults must be able to take responsibility and give support. There must be compromise when it does not vere from the revealed word of God.
YOUTH MINISTRY...OUT OF FOCUS
One of my observations about many Youth Ministers has been their bias which favors the youth and avoids the older ones. There are at least two reasons for this.
1. THE YOUTH MINISTER'S IMMATURITY
Many times God gifts and calls a young person to serve Him in leadership ministry. This does not mean that we are ready to assume the position of responsibility, but we should start preparing for it. Sometimes God calls us at a very early age, before we have had an opportunity to mature. Unhappily, as with those who do not have a call to leadership, some people refuse to grow up. They think like a child and find adulthood to be a dull hood. Growing up means greater responsibility than they want to carry. They don't want to do the grown up things which are more like work. They want to do the "youth stuff" like games, outings, fellowships, lock-ins and concerts. They aren't into the boring things like meetings, visitations, finances, elderly care, family counseling, confrontational counseling, community invovlement, educational concerns. Long hard hours in the study and one-on-one minstry with those who are deeply entangled in a life of sin is not where they are interested. They want to be where the action is.
They want the adulation of the young people. They are able to impress younger ones and get their approval. They like being the center of attention, the voice of authority, the BMOC. They are able to focus on things that excite them and they surround themselves with those of a like mind. They are not required, not even allowed to grow up for fear that they will lose touch with the youth. They are often hard-headed and they are not team players. As a matter of fact, they don't want to play at all unless everybody playes by their rules. When pressed, many Youth Ministers display childish attitudes when they must come under authority. They don't want to grow up in their thinking process.
They are enamored with youth. They think youth is "where its at." They think youth has more to offer. They think youth is more beautiful, more exciting, more intelligent, more fun, more motivated, more creative, more imaginative. They may even think that the youth only need the adults of the church to pay the bills and then just get out of the way. They are so protective of their group and position that they are antagonistic when someone tries to intermix the youth with the rest of the church.
This person should not even be engaged in leadership. They should be required to grow up and become mature in their approach to life. We are not doing our children or youth any favors when we let a baby do the baby-sitting. Though they may have a winning way with the youth, they are not winning them in the right direction. This Youth Minister has his/her focus on the Youth part more than on the Ministry part. They love youth, and it shows. They love youth so much that they actually put a barrier between themselves and the rest of the church. They alienate the adults of the church and infect the youth with a bad case of "us/them syndrome." Where is the true Church in all of this?
An advantage the Youth Minister position affords this person is that they never have to grow up. They will continue to work with youth. While it is true that the youth usually have to grow up and go into an adult world, Youth Ministers do not. They just work their way through one group of youth and into another and into another. They do not have to mature. As long as new youth are coming up from the lower ranks or are being recruited they don't have to adjust to more mature and complex issues. When a real problem develops with some of the youth, the problem can be turned over to the Sr. Pastor. Too often the dirty work comes about because the Youth Minister is not doing the work he is supposed to do.
2. THE YOUTH MINISTER FINDS THE YOUTH TO BE MORE APPEALING THAN ADULTS
Sometimes the Youth Minister has matured as a person, but he is discouraged with the adults in the church. The church does not seem to be going anywhere, or it is not going in the right direction fast enough. The adults are slower to accept change and adopt new forms. The adults have some old fashioned ways and ideas. The adults have lost their fire, their glow, their vision.
The Youth Minister sees that the only hope for the church is in the youth. They forget that once upon a time those adults had been the exciting youth of another generation. In other words, they fail to see that the excitement of today is not a promise for tomorrow. Fire is not lost through age, it is lost when the daily walk with God dwindles. It is lost when the problems of life are allowed to obscure the vision of God. Adults have had to deal with more reality than youth, and have found it more demanding to keep the fire. This is not an excuse for "old cold Christians" but rather to point out that it is much easeir to be on fire as a youth who does not have the responsibilities of life. No one should lose their fire, but youth are not necessarily more spiritual just because they are not facing the difficult issue of life. Equipping young people to be "on fire adults" is not done in the safety and security of an all youth world. It is done in the face of reality and hopefully with the encouragement of adults who are walking in victory. If there are no adults with fire, then it is time for the youth to be an humble example of the great grace of God. They may be the ones to stir the adults back onto victory. In choosing to separate the youth from the adults, the Youth Minister has chosen the easy way out.
These Youth Ministers fail to see the "family" concept of the Church. God established the Church and designed it to encompass all of life, every age group, whether married or single. He did not establish a "Children's Church" or a "Youth Church" any more than He established a family without parents, without husband, without wife and generally speaking, without children. Yes, the youth are a great hope for tomorrows Church, but not if they are not part of it today.
The Youth Minister must have a vision for the entire ministry. And he must realize that those in the youth program are not going to remain youth. His job is to prepare them to be adults and be part of the adult church. Not so much a changing of the guard as a passing of the torch. The youth are to be a part of the church, not apart from the church. He is not working in opposition with the Sr. Pastor and the other staff and members, he is supposed to be working in concert with the whole church.
MY VIEW OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH
I am going to tell you a little about myself. This will help you understand my view of children and youth.
MY BACKGROUND
I was saved at a very early age, in a non-Christian home. This has impacted my philosophy of children's and youth ministries.
Though he was not a saved man, when I was very young, my father would teach me Chrisitan songs, like, "Jesus Loves Me." He would tell me Bible stories and have prayers with me at meal times and when I went to bed. He did not really know much about the Bible, so I don't know how sound his Bible lessons were. But it did make me think about Jesus and how I should love Him. My prayers were simple enough. At meals we did not pray the "God is Great..." prayer that most seemed to pray in those days. It was simple and went something like, "Dear Lord, thank You for our food, make us strong and healthy, Amen." At bed time he taught me to pray, "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord, my soul to take. Dear Lord, take care of me, Mommy and Daddy, Grand Mama and Grand Daddy, Mommy Gilmour and Daddy Gilmour, all my aunts and uncles and all my cousins, and all of the little boys and girls in the world, Amen." He may have taught me to pray, "In Jesus name" but usually he would refer to God and Jesus as "The Good Lord."
MY PHILOSOPHY OF AGE SPECIFIC MINISTRY
With this as my spiritual foundation, I came to know and accept Jesus as my own personal Savior when I was very young. I wasn't told that I had accepted Him, I wasn't even told to accept Him. But with the little knowledge I had about God, I knew that I had "been ugly" (my way of saying I had sinned) and I knew that Jesus loved me, died for me, rose from the dead and He wanted to live in my heart. I knew these things because the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He brought me into a right relationship with Himself.
From this I learned that God not only can speak to people in every human tongue, but He also speaks Baby Talk. I actually knew Him as my Friend, my God and my Savior. I did not just know about Him, I knew Him.
Now back to the subject.
God speaks to us where we are. God does the miracle of revealing Himself to us. God transcends time, space, age, gender, language and all other barriers, if we respond as little children. Jesus told the disciples to allow the little children to come to Him and not to hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven is made up of people like them. God did not speak to me as a little child in order to keep me as a little child. He wanted me to grow up and mature, to put away childish things.
This is what He wants to do with the youth of our churches. He will meet them where they are and take them to where they ought to be. Because of this, I have always approached children and youth like they were just smaller and younger people. Not as a category to themselves.
Though I was an only child, I always wanted brothers and sisters. Even from my childhood, I always had a good rapport with little ones. When I was young I had a lively and productive ministry to young people and children. I loved them. From Bible college days and into my pastoral ministry I was always leading and helping young people. They felt comfortable with me and responded to my love and leadership.
I could see how some people treated children and youth on a childish level. People seemed to think that young people respond better when they are treated like they cannot understand the real world, or like they needed to be ostracized from the adult world. I would not do that. I would communicate with them on their level of understanding and maturity, but I treated them more as little people than as a different kind of being.
I saw my job as reaching them where they were and bringing them to where God wanted them to be. I did not see that they should be excused from life with its realities and responsibilities just because they were younger than others. Neither did I try to move them into the adult world. And they responded accordingly. Instead of continuing in their immaturity, they grew in grace and knowledge of Jesus and became responsible members of the family, church and community. I am not saying they lost their childhood or youthfulness, I am saying they quit acting like babies. They acted their age.
I have been blessed with success in various ministries. My view has been that we are all members of one body and my job is to help build a strong and healthy and symmetrical body.
I have developed strong children's and youth programs while integrating them into the warp and woof of the whole church life and reality.
So, YOUTH MINISTER...TO BE OR NOT TO BE?
NO, if it is for the wrong reasons or is producing the wrong results.
YES, if for the right reasons and producing the right results.
REMEMBER, THE YOUTH ARE NOT APART FROM THE CHURCH BUT A PART OF THE CHURCH!!!
Pastor David
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