Youth Ministry & the Economy
Last week I took a call from a youth pastor in the greater Portland area who, for lack of a better word, was very frustrated with his church's decision to cut one of his fellow youth pastors from a full-time position to a quarter-time position. Although frustrated this particular youth worker accepted the reason for the staff cut - economic challenges.
A second youth worker emailed me and told me that her youth budget was cut in half for her summer ministry and said that in the 14 years she as been a full-time youth worker she's never had a more paired back summer programming schedule. A youth worker here in the greater Kansas City area emailed me to see if I knew of any good fundraisers that didn't require a ton of time. Not because this youth worker didn't want to make and take the time - he just can't take the time... he's recently had to get a second job in order to offset the fact that his wife lost her job.
Still, another youth worker here in Kansas City said that they have about 18 students who wanted to go to camp this summer. The church usually subsidizes the cost of camp for any student that wants to go but this year cannot afford to do so. For the first time in over a decade this church has had to tell students 'we can't send you to camp this year.'
Are the economic challenges that so many are facing in our country hitting your church and community? If so, how is it changing the way that you are doing youth ministry?
Some of the youth workers I speak with see this time of economic uncertainty as an opportunity - a time to purge and get lean in favor of a more simple and streamlined approach to youth ministry. Is this you? Do you see this time as an opportunity to purge our youth ministries, cutting away the fat? Are you having to get back to "what really matters?"
One of the youth workers I know in New York State was let go by his church for financial reasons and was fortunate enough to get a job working for the state highway department. The amazing thing (even more than finding a job in his towns skyrocketing unemployment rate) is that this youth worker decided to volunteer all of his free time and has kept leading the very same youth ministry! If youth ministry were an unpaid profession, would you do it?
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?
When I Wore A Younger Man’s Clothes**
A couple of weeks ago I was in Calgary hanging out with Matt Wilks and Wayne Smele. Matt works with me at Youthfront and Wayne is the Pastor of Student Ministries at Centre Street Church. Wayne also teaches Youth Ministry at Rocky Mountain College.
I was a guest in one of Wayne's classes. It was very cool to sit and visit with a great group of emerging leaders. I was deeply inpspired by the questions I was asked and the passion that each of the students has for new kinds of youth ministry. I left the campus of Rocky Mountain College feeling very encouraged...
As I was leaving the building a bulletin board caught my eye. The ad below (crappy pic -- I took it with my phone) made me chuckle. It also made me deeply concerned. An intern that can lead, develop and supervise an entire youth ministry -- wow -- I'd like to meet that person. I am not saying that intern doesn't exist but I sure haven't run into someone who can do all that effectively especially as an intern. [I'd love to hear what Mark Riddle would say about those expectations. Mark works as a consultant with churches around the US and he sees first hand these kinds of expectations being unfairly placed on emerging leaders all the time.]
When I wore a younger man's clothes I couldn't even lead, develop or supervise myself let alone a number of students and their families. Makes me think that among the many challenges we face in the world of youth ministry today, this might be one of the biggest. I mean, asking an intern to lead, develop and supervise an entire youth ministry? I just hope whoever takes that role, assuming someone does, has a mentor who can help them. I am all for young leaders having positions of influence but with this mindset how can we possibly be setting up emerging leaders for success?
It also pushed me to think about who I am mentoring and who I am investing in. I need to do more than I am... I couldn't help but be grateful to people like Dave Michener, Dan Webster, Doug Jones, Stan Key, Mark Patrick and a slew of others who took seriously the role of a mentor and invested (and still invest) in me. So fellow veterans of youth ministry ... is there someone in your area you ought to be mentoring?
** Words from Piano Man, Billy Joel
5 People You Meet at a YW Luncheon
I was invited to speak to a small group of youth workers today in the Chicago area. It was very cool -- great conversation, great food and great people. The combination of those three things always provides me with a time well spent.
I've been attending youth worker luncheons for about 14 years or so now and in the last couple of months I have probably been to half a dozen of them -- either as a guest or as the host.
Over the years I have come to realize that at each of the gatherings you can inevitably run into at least 5 types of people (of which I confess I have at one time or another been myself).
1- Ms. or Mr. Resume -- this person just has to share their latest accomplishments. It might be a degree, a former place of employment, the number of churches recruiting them, etc.
2- Ms. or Mr. Event -- this persons primary objective at the gathering is to get fellow youth workers to bring their students to their upcoming event usually for two reasons. A) They screwed up the budget and need more money to keep the event in the black or b) They think their events are utterly superior.
3- Ms. or Mr. Frustrated -- this person is consistently sharing a different (or more of the same) frustration that is most definitely always someone else's fault.
4- Ms. or Mr. Job Search -- this person seems to be looking for a new job. They usually want a new job with better pay, larger amounts of students and paid staff to work for them.
5- Ms. or Mr. Name Dropper -- this person can't resist telling you who they talked to on the phone, who they got an email from or who is coming to speak at their next retreat.
I am sure you can probably think of more... what other types of people do you find at your gatherings? Next time you attend a youth worker luncheon/gathering do your best to avoid being connected to any of the above classifications and see what if anything changes about the gathering.
I am certainly not trying to be mean. I have been and could probably be categorized as one of the above too. I just find it incredibly predictable, progressively funny and moderately troubling that right now you are putting a face or name to each of the above.
Our Iceberg Is Melting
In the last chapter of my book, A New Kind of Youth Ministry, I make an attempt at trying to help the reader get a start on the process of re-culturing their ministry or leading change. Some have wished I would have done more to outline the components of the re-culturing process and others have expressed a desire for me to have been a little more prescriptive. At that point in the conversation I usually push back hard trying to communicate the difference between being prescriptive and being descriptive.
Truthfully, I think the gap between those two ways of passing on ideas (prescriptive vs. descriptive) is where a fair bit of tension in youth work lies today. I contend that most youth workers don't want a formula for what will work or a prescription given to them. Rather, most youth workers want to create their own environments for spiritual transformation. Youth workers want to create an environment that is contextual and customizable.
I also contend that out of fear of being seen as or considered formulaic and prescriptive the pendulum has swung from people passing on ideas that are 'right' to passing on ideas that are really quite 'ambiguous'. I know I am guilty of that. In the ambiguity of the ideas lies a tendency then to only deconstruct former or old ideas. Therefore, one never really gets around to reconstructing anything new or different. We eagerly say, "It isn't that!" and then others around us ask, "Well, then, if it isn't that -- then what is it?"
So, rather than trying to prescribe new ideas that only push people away I would rather try to describe new ideas. Describing new ideas seems to keep people engaged. Describing ideas then, also attempts to give others a framework in which to being reconstructing something new or different unique to who they are -- not in the way of another.
I confess that a lot of my thinking as it relates to managing transition and leading change has come from John Kotter. Kotter's book Leading Change and then later The Heart of Change truly influenced my thinking around how to effectively lead a change process that ultmately allows for the construction of something new. Kotter describes 8 essential aspects to leading effective change that you must know. Since it his content, I will forgo naming the 8 aspect here.
Kotter wrote a fable (along with another guy named Rathgeber) called, Our Iceberg is Melting. It is a fantastic story of a colony of penguins forced to change. Re-teaching the essential aspects to leading effective change from his previous book, Kotter creatively gives the reader a humorous and yet profound description of what leading change looks like.
We all manage change. Within the scope of our churches and youth ministries (organizations, etc.), we are called to lead change. We are called on to continuously put forth the effort to create the best possible environment(s) for students and leaders to engage more deeply with God and his mission. We are environmentalists! We owe it to our students, volunteers and parents (employees, etc.) to begin constructing something new or different -- something that attempts to achieve the highest degree of spiritual impact. It can't always be about deconstructing or naming what it isn't ... at some point we must begin growing something new.
As we cultivate the new, embracing the chaos and uncertainties of change along the way, we must have some sort of a plan. Kotter's litte book, Our Iceberg is Melting, gives us a descriptive plan and can help us begin or continue to describe to our students, volunteers and parents the path in which we are guiding our students down.
Christians and taking over the coffee shop…
When I am not working out of my office in Kansas City, I am usually at a coffee shop near my house in Geneva, IL so I can get free WI-FI, take some calls and get some work done. I am sure you do this at times as well -- it is very common among the youth worker community. You are probably at a cafe right now!
Lately I have noticed (more than I ever have before) that Christians love to take over the entire coffee shop by gathering all the chairs into a circle (leaving tables naked with no chairs for anyone to sit at), spreading their belongings all over the floor, leaving their kids to run around the coffee shop bothering people who are actually trying to meet or get work done and talking so loudly you can't even hear yourself think!
Now, I am all for Christians gathering in public spaces for Bible study, prayer, sharing life, whatever... but what message does it send when we (Christians) just take over a place and annoy everyone in sight and within ear shot. Even more annoying is the group that thinks this gathering is effective faith sharing! Somehow they think that if they spread their Bibles about and raise their voices that others in the cafe might somehow listen intently enough to make a decision to surrender their life to following Jesus. That is annoying. The percentages of that happening can't be very high...
Also, I get that anyone has the right to gather in a coffee shop or cafe or any other restaurant as long as they are following the rules of the owner/franchise. I also get the good old "first come first serve" rule as it relates to seating. Moreover, I completely understand that cafe's were not created exclusively for people who wish to hold meetings, appointments or take advantage of the free WI-FI. BUT come on! What do people think of us (Christians) when we take over the whole place and annoy the hell out of them!? Do people really think, "Wow, lookey here. These folks sure our committed to their faith!" I highly doubt it. I think people are saying, "Told you so, these people are annoying. I thought this is what Sunday at church was for!?"
Can't we just be a little more respectful to others who wish to share the same space, breathe the same air and listen to the same folk music quietly playing over the audio system of nearly every cafe' in the world?
