Youth Ministry & the Departing Youth Worker
I don’t think I am an alarmist. The word ‘departing’ in the title of this post may appear that I am but to me, the word ‘vanishing’ was to excessive. Another word that came to mind was ‘deserting’ and that just didn’t seem fair.
At any rate, today I got news via a friend’s email that a mutual friend of ours was departing youth ministry to plant a church in NYC. Normally I wouldn’t think twice about the news as change in our lives is inevitable and youth ministers are departing their roles as spiritual guides to emerging adults everyday. However, this bit of news came in a long line of reports and personal conversations with youth workers who are leaving their vocation.
I’m curious… does anyone else see a greater number of youth ministers than what feels ordinary leaving their role in exchange for something other that youth work? To me, it sure feels like there are more youth ministers leaving than what is usual. Perhaps this phenomenon is only occurring in the view through my little window of youth ministry.
NOTE: I realize that there has always been a fair amount of transition among youth workers. However, most of that transition has been from one church or ministry to another not a transition away from youth work altogether.
I have some thoughts as to why we might be seeing more youth ministers leaving their roles of serving youth and their families. I’m hoping you can help me fill out this list.
Here are a few of my thoughts:
1. Theology- it appears to me that today’s youth minister has a very different theological framework for approaching ministry than their supervising ministers and church boards. This results in youth ministers looking to other ministry opportunities and other environments in which to express their divergent theological convictions.
2. Methodology – I have found that in the conversations I am having with departing youth workers one of the main issues contributing to the exit strategies has to do with churches operating with an attractional model of ministry when many youth ministers are resonating more with a missional model. After a while it just becomes like two ships passing in the night and this leads to transition.
3. Leadership – I have also found that many youth workers feel as though they are ready for greater leadership challenges and influence and their supervising ministers are either not in agreement or completely unwilling to step aside to give the youth worker a greater amount of influence. I’m not saying the youth workers are ready for more or not, but one thing that is sure is that youth workers think they deserve more and unquestionably want more.
4. Expectations – There are a growing number of expectations being placed on the youth worker by others (church leadership, parents, students, peers, etc.) and this causes a working environment that is inescapably overwhelming. I’m not quite sure exactly what is causing the growing expectations but I have a hunch it has to do with the absolute disorientation most people feel as it relates to the most effective ways to make disciples of today’s youth.
5. Calling – Sometimes God calls people to new vocations. I get that. I believe a fair number of the departing youth workers I have talked with are really being led to do something else.
6. Schedule – Youth workers work their butt off and often without a healthy balance. Some youth workers are just tired and the grass on the other side looks a whole lot more green, and often it can be.
Are sensing a growing number of youth workers departing for things other than youth? What are your thoughts on why that might be the case? Do you have any solutions to offer us?
Working as a Team
Below is a recent email I received. Maybe some of you can help out Richard with your years of experience and expertise. I've given him some of my quick and brief thoughts below.
Hi Chris,
I know you do consulting with YS. Can you help me out? I'm in my first year of youth ministry and I'm wondering if you can help me know some of the important factors involved in working with teams. I am working with a great team of volunteers who are mostly much older than me. I have never really been on or led a team before. I'm relational but not really good at leading my team mtgs. Can you help me know what kinds of things I should be thinking of?
Thanks,
Richard (White Plains, NY)
Here are a few really key points of thought/discussion regarding how healty teams interact. I hope they are helpful...
- Care for one another -- Of course, without concern for another, you are selfish. Selfishness has no place on any team. Effective teams are selfless and live out a genuine concern or one another.
- Open, honest and truthful -- Effective teams are open to new ideas, honest about their feelings and truthful in how they communicate those feelings. To be an effective team you must be willing to share your ideas and feelings.
- Trusting -- Team members trust each other. That is to say that team members think the best of one another and rely unconditionally on their cohorts for the overall success and effectiveness of the team.
- Opportunity for consensus -- Not all decisions can be led by consensus. However, effective teams at least allow for the opportunity of consensus when making small or big decisions.
- Commitment -- The reason why teams can work together in a trusting way is because each team member put forth a unswerving commitment to the task(s) at hand. Ineffective teams have members of those teams who partially commit or only commit when it is convenient for that particular person.
- Peacemakers -- Effective teams make sure that they are operating as peacemakers. Occasionally there will be a conflict to manage. Effective teams work together to find ways to make peace arise from disagreement and discord.
- Listening -- You cannot be an effective team if you are not willing to genuinely listen to one another. This does not simply mean giving everyone a chance to talk. It involves that for sure, however, it also involves making a conscience effort to genuinely hear from one another.
- Expressive -Good teams become great teams when the members of those teams are able to express their feelings. Sometimes those feelings will be things like doubt, fear, uncertainty, celebration, joy, anger, etc. We are all human. We are going to have feelings and great teams allow for its team members to express how they are feeling in healthy and appropriate ways.
Any of you want to contribute other helpful points of thought/discussion?
Writers Summit and Holy Nice Day Batman!
Yesterday I spent the day at Barefoot Ministries participating in a writers summit with a wonderful group of people from all around the country. Some of the summit participants were old friends and current co-workers at Youthfront while a couple of the participants were people I met for the first time.
My friend Jeff Edmondson recently resigned as manager of Barefoot so the folks over there asked me if I would facilitate the day as I have been doing some consulting with them on various projects over the last couple of months.
It was an honor to facilitate the summit as there were some really smart, creative and progressive thinkers and doers in the room. It made for a really fun day full of ideation and conversation.
The gathered team of writers is developing a new kind of curriculum for small groups, Sunday school classes, etc. I think the content will prove to be very impacting. The team is committed to taking a proven method of applied learning (think: Kolb - Experiential Learning) and creating some fresh ways to help transform most of what happens in traditional Sunday school classes from teacher- centered to learner centered. I am really looking forward to seeing the end product and working with the team of writers.
Holy Nice Day Batman!
Today was an unbelievable day. The temp got over 70 degrees so I spent the day outside shooting hoops with my kids, playing soccer, going for a walk and a bike ride. I even brought out the ole grill and fired it up for some hot dogs. Crazy nice day today... Tomorrow it is supposed to dip back down a bit and then get nice again on Monday -- like up into the 60's. There might be some rain, but it sure beats the cold!
NYWC – Pittsburgh
I spent the last couple days in Pittsburgh at the National Youth Workers Convention. I had a fantastic time connecting with old and new friends.
My seminars were definitely a highlight. I did a critical concerns course on Thursday and Friday with my friend Kelly Lashly who is a youth ministry prof over at Sioux Falls Seminary. The participants were very engaged and the conversation was inspiring. There are so many youth workers throughout North America doing such cool things to aid in the spiritual formation of adolescents.
My missional youth ministry seminar was good also. I really enjoy the conversations I am having with youth workers around narrative theology, the gospel, missional living, etc. I am hopeful that youth ministry is moving towards a very healthy future -- especially when we consider how we might better connect to and contribute within the missio dei.
I also did a seminar for volunteers that was a blast! The seminar is called, "What Every Volunteer Youth Worker Should Know." I snatched the idea from my friends over in England at Oasis. The seminar and a new book/training guide I am coming out with designed for volunteer youth workers is an adaption of what a guy named Danny Brierly wrote several years ago. I am always blown away by a room filled with a 100 or so people who have, in many cases, taken vacation time, paid their own way and our away from their family for a weekend of training. The sacrifice of youth workers and the love they have for rising generations is amazing...
I also had the chance to consult through YSConsults with a dozen or so youth workers. I was particularly excited to meet with two guys from Eastern PA named Dustin and Corby who are doing some really cool stuff in the area of missional youth ministry at Manheim Brethren in Christ Church.
A couple other highlights were spending some time with my good freind Doug Jones and Guy Wasko. Doug writes over at Perigrinatio and is working on a few writing projects with me and Guy is student ministries pastor at Allegheny Center Alliance Church. I spoke last night at Guy's youth group and it was a ton of fun. Guy has really done a great job crafting an environment for multi-cultural ministry and helping his students imagine a life of living in the ways of Jesus
I am headed home for a few days to see and be with my family, check in on the ministry teams at Youthfront and finish a couple of books! If you are planning to be in Nashville at the upcoming NYWC, let me know and we'll grab some coffee and chat.
Ocean City…
Thursday night I was in Kansas City speaking at a church for my new friend Casey Kapple. Casey is the youth minister at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Overland Park, KS. Before his current position at Emmanuel, Casey was on staff at Youthfront for almost 4 years. It was great to get some input and feedback on some of Youthfront's initiatives from someone who knows the organization well and is also a local youth worker.
I spoke to some of the parents of the teens in Casey's ministry. I was encouraged by the parents' strong commitment to helping their teens develop an authentic faith. I did some of the training from our Shepherding in a Culture of Change learning module. It was great fun and I was blessed to be a small part of Casey's ministry, if even only for a night of training.
From Kansas City I flew to Ocean City, Md. What a beautiful place! I have never been to Ocean City but have had many friends who vacation there in the summer. The view (as seen below - not my pic) from my room was stunning - especially in the morning as the sun came up. Very cool...
I was speaking at a YFC event called Impact. There were about 4000ppl there from all over the east coast. I facilitated the youth worker training and had a few consulting appointments as well.
It was great to see Dave Rahn, as it always is. Dave was leading a seminar for students who want to explore God as well as reperesenting the national YFC office.
It was a pleasure to finally get the chance to meet Ruth Barton who I have wanted to meet for a long time. Ruth is the author of a couple of books (one called Sacred Rhythms in which my wife and her close friend Michelle are using these days as a "guide" of sorts for conversation, etc.). Ruth used to be at Willow a few years ago but now she is a spiritual director and retreat leader through the ministry she founded based in the Chicago area called, The Transforming Center.
I am thrilled to spend some time tonight with my good friend Dave Michener. Dave was the first one to hire me for a youth ministry job and continues to be a great friend and mentor to me and my family (Dave performed the wedding ceremony for Gina and me!).
Dave is the executive pastor at Bridgeway Community Church, a multi-cultural church outside of Baltimore in Columbia, MD. I always love talking with Dave about stuff going on at Bridgeway. Bridgeway is an innovative church that is in many ways leading the way forward for churches desiring to be intentionally multi-cultural.
Leave Baltimore early tomorrow morning and head home -- can't wait to see my family!
YS Consults
I have been doing consulting with churches and organizations on and off for a couple of years now. I have come to love consulting as much as anything else I do these days. In some ways, I think that consulting with churches and organizations might be my greatest contribution to the Kingdom. It isn't easy work, but it is truly motivating and stretching.
I had my own firm for a while called, The Trek Project but when I began to re-culture Sonlife a few years ago, I set it aside in order to integrate much of what I was doing into the streams of influence at Sonlife.
I am thrilled to be on a new team of consultants that Youth Specialties has gathered. Honestly, I am honored and humbled to be on a team with such great people. You can see the team here: http://www.ysconsults.com/consultants/
You can check out the YS Consults website and get more information here: http://www.ysconsults.com/
