Practical: The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor in the Local Church

The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor in the Local Church

1. Introduction and Definitions The role of the full-time youth pastor has not been clearly defined in South African churches. Until recently, the youth pastorate was considered to be simply a training ground for pastors on their way to "real" ministry. Today there is a move (as there has been over the past few decades in the United States) towards life-time, career youth pastors. For many years there have been these youth workers, attached to para-church organizations, such as Scripture Union and Youth for Christ. This assignment does not deal with them, but rather with the need for dedicated youth pastors, who are prepared to give their lives to ministering to young people at the local church level.

Jesus’ ministry is the supreme example for all pastoral positions. For youth ministry, in particular, we must concentrate on Jesus’ incarnational ministry. He was prepared to get alongside people, He made them feel significant, He gave of Himself, looking to their potential, helping them through their failures. This is the goal of youth ministry - to help young people become mature in Christ.

For the sake of this assignment, the terms "youth" and "young people" will be used to refer to the three major areas of ministry: i.e. children (birth to end of primary school), teenagers (high school) and young adults (age 18 to 35). I envisage a Youth Pastor has having responsibility for all three of these areas of ministry within a local church.

This assignment has obviously been influenced by my own personal approach to youth ministry. I have tried to ensure, however, that it covers the broadest range possible of activities for youth ministry. The aim of this assignment is to explain the functions a youth pastor would perform, and thus motivate congregations to employ full-time, dedicated youth ministry specialists to pastor the church’s youth ministries.

2. The Needs of Young People

All pastoral activities (indeed, all Christian ministry activities) are aimed at fulfilling needs: Both the perceived and actual needs of the people being ministered to. As Scripture is clear that our "target market" is to be the whole world, from our next door neighbor, our local community, city, country, and to the ends of the world (Matt. 28:18 - 20; Acts 1:8), we are called to minister to everyone.

Young people are the easiest to reach with the gospel of Christ. This is not only stated in Scripture (Ecc. 12:1; Prov. 22:6), but is also an empirical fact. Most Christians made a commitment of some sort to Christ before they were twenty years of age. Therefore, if the church’s goal is to reach people for Christ, then it would make sense that a large amount of time, energy and resources be put into ministering to young people, who are more open to the Gospel, and who make up the majority of the population in our country.

In a world that is so busy, and demands so much of all of its inhabitants, young people need a secure environment, where they can experiment and decide who they want to be. They need significant people to be there to help them through this process. They need role models to follow.

Young people are not just "little adults" (cf. Elkind 1984:18). They are complex individuals who are battling to deal with the awesome transformation of their bodies, minds, and emotions. They are in a time of transition and growth, developing from the birthed bundle of potential to a fully integrated, functional member of society. The church is in a unique position to assist in this process.

"The purpose of youth ministry is to point youth toward God and help them become involved in the Great Commission" (Black, An Introduction to Youth Ministry, pg. 19, quoted in the Youth Course Introduction notes, pg. 29).

3. The Role of the Full-Time Youth Pastor

Duffy Robbins has listed four essential qualities that must be present in a person who desires to point young people to Christ, in Whom all their needs will be met. These are: diligence ("being faithful to invest whatever gifts God has given us to maximize our impact for Him"; Matt. 25:22 - 23), stability ("the ability to stay with a work over the long haul, the ability to stay put when going gets tough"; 1 Cor. 15:58), vision (foresight and insight, "looking beyond the negatives to see the positives that only

could see"; John 18:15 - 27; 21:15 - 19), and integrity ("God must be the first priority of our schedule") (cf. Robbins 1991:23ff.).

There are many churches that do not feel there is enough work for a youth pastor to do and so do not feel they can justify the expense of a full-time position. I have therefore attempted to define the position and responsibilities of the youth pastor. This not meant to be detailed job description. A job description will need to take into account the existing leadership structures, needs of the church, the size of the church, and the character and gifts of the particular pastors concerned.

4. A Breakdown of the Tasks of a Youth Pastor

The emphases of different churches and different approaches to youth ministry will affect what each individual youth pastor I have simply attempted to categorize the general tasks that need to be fulfilled for an effective youth ministry in a church. Some of these activities will overlap the time categories I have specified. I have attempted to simplify the categorization by using time-based headings.

Before we look at these specific areas, however, it is important that all activities are overshadowed by the following three major considerations:

Prayer - The role of prayer for any full-time pastor cannot be over-estimated, and should be understood by all church members as a vital part of the pastor’s ministry to, and on behalf of, the church. The Apostle Paul mentioned this ministry in nearly every letter he wrote. The youth pastor has a vital role to play in praying for the young people and their families, and for the various youth activities and the leaders involved. The youth pastor also has a responsibility in terms of his own spiritual development, prayer, devotions and relationship with God.

Discipleship and Evangelism - Much of what will be said below will deal with these two aspects of the church’s ministry, but is important to emphasize at the start that the primary goal of church ministry, is to go into all the world with the Gospel salvation through Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:18 - 20; Acts 1:8), and to present people as mature Christians who can effectively

their spiritual gifts for the edification of the body (Eph. 4:12 - 13; 2 Tim. 2:2).

Responsibility to the Church - Neither the youth pastor nor any of the youth ministries, are autonomous. The youth pastor, particular, is called by the church members, and is therefore under their authority (a fact that is probably worked out through eldership). This means that he is accountable to the church for all he does. This is obviously said with the proviso that everyone finally under the authority of God, and are first and foremost responsible to Him.

4.1. Sundays

As with all pastors, this is the most important day of the week, as it is an opportunity to meet with many of the church’s members. Although the youth pastor will not normally preach on a Sunday, the following tasks are important: Sunday School/Family Bible Hour (FBH) - Family Bible Hour is a preferred concept, as it refers to all-age Sunday School. youth pastor should not take the place of the FBH Superintendent. However, the youth pastor will work closely with the Superintendent in relation to the youth departments of the FBH, checking on absentees for follow up during the week, meeting with the young people and their parents, possibly praying with FBH teachers and helping them to get ready for their lessons, The youth pastor may also be involved in teaching an FBH class, depending on his gifts. It is important that the youth pastor involved in FBH, so that he can ensure it harmonizes with other youth activities.

Interaction with Young People - The youth pastor needs to be interacting with young people, chatting to them, welcoming people and making himself available to assist those who require it. As we saw in the introduction, Jesus’ ministry was incarnational - He spent time with people (cf. John 1:14a). "The core of any ministry of nurture is relationships" (Robbins 1990b:180). The youth pastor must be seen to be involved in the services, worship and other activities of the corporate life of church. He must be seen to be an integral member of the pastoral (eldership) team.

Activities after Services - It has been my experience at a number of churches that activities organized after the services on Sunday are particularly attractive for young adults. These can be made more meaningful than simply a social around the TV some eats. The youth pastor must co-ordinate activities that allow opportunities for WAP (Worship and Praise), Wrap (discussing the sermon and issues arising from it) and Chat groups (the socializing aspect is vital), as well as socials, meals sports.

Youth Services - a vital part of the youth work in a church is handing responsibility over to the young people. One way of doing this is to have youth services, which would involve youth at all levels. These may range from an FBH service, where the children assist in the service and possibly lead the worship, to a service fully planned and led by the teenagers and young adults. The youth pastor will obviously have a role to play in coordinating these services, and ensuring that the young people are fully involved and do so in a meaningful and acceptable way.

4.2. Monday to Friday

Preparation of talks - There are many youth activities that occur during the week, and the youth pastor must be adequately prepared for these. Gone are the days when youth talks could be "off the cuff". Today’s young people are used to well prepared, high quality communication, and will not accept anything less. Just as the preaching pastor will spend in excess of 10 times amount of time in preparation compared to delivery, so the youth pastor must spend considerable time in preparing for Bible Studies, youth meeting talks, SCA talks, seminars, leadership training, FBH classes and the like.

Preparation of activities - It is my belief that youth pastors should not be involved in the regular, hands-on running of youth groups, but should rather be involved in developing and discipling leaders through these activities. A good youth pastor will with the leaders of the various youth activities during the week, and discuss the plans for their program, using this as an opportunity to ensure that the youth work is properly done, and to disciple the leaders as they are involved at a level of responsibility. There is a simple five-step process a youth pastor can go through in leading, training and discipling through activities: (i) You watch me; (ii) You help me; (iii) I help you; (iv) I watch you; (v) You do it. Attendance at youth activities Although the youth pastor will not be expected to attend all the youth activities, he should be at a vast majority of them, especially where his presence will be beneficial to the young people and to the leaders of the activity. In attending, he is aiming build relationships and to assess the program so that he can help the leaders to evaluate the activity and develop and improve in themselves.

Resources - An ongoing task is to ensure that all groups have adequate supplies of the correct and necessary resources. This involve everything from buying paper and pencils, to food, to youth journals, videos and even motivating for a church bus some other, large Capex item).

Discipleship - Following the example of Jesus, who spent time with large crowds, but kept quality time for his small group disciples, the issue of discipleship is vital to a healthy youth ministry. (Note that in the Great Commission, Jesus commanded to make disciples, not merely converts - Matt. 28:19). Spending time with key leaders and young people is vital to the long- success of any youth ministry. Dan King, the youth minister at Lethbridge, Canada, describes one of his functions in this area follows: "To recruit, supervise, train and mentor the Youth Ministries Leadership Team" (see Appendix I). Each of these functions that he mentions are necessary, and most often need the input of a full-time, skilled youth professional.

Evangelism - Sharing the Gospel with young people is a vital role of the youth pastor, as is equipping others to do the same. Being able to communicate the Gospel in a manner that connects with young people and is appealing to them is a vital skill develop.

Bible Study(ies) - The youth pastor should be involved not only in organizing Bible Studies for young people (or organizing young people to go to Bible Studies), but should also (depending on giftedness) lead at least one study himself. I have found number of different churches that Bible Studies for teenagers and young adults need a conflicting dynamic to work: they firstly need to be small enough to accommodate real relationships and trust, yet, secondly, need to be big enough to fulfill the socializing needs of the young people. One successful method of dealing with this is to have a number of different groups meeting at a single venue at one time. Thus, a combined time for praise and worship and fellowship is followed by a divided time of small group interaction and study. For this to work, there must be a coordinator, leading the combined time, overseeing the leadership each of the small groups, organizing the logistics of the event, and advertising and promoting it.

Visitation - An important role of the youth pastor is to form part of the pastoral and leadership visitation team in the church. must not only visit young people at home and at school, but should also be willing to visit families and parents as well. Visitation should not only be seen in terms of the traditional "dominee-huis-besoek-en-tee-drink", but also in terms of attending key sports fixtures, cultural activities, joining young people for an evening out at a restaurant or movie, going to the shopping mall, just being where the young people are - the key is being on the young person’s territory. The youth pastor must ensure that times are meaningful by taking the initiative to start conversations and asking leading questions. The emphasis is on relationships, not just hanging out.

Counseling - The youth pastor, like all pastors, has a vital role to play in helping the wounded in the congregation. With special knowledge of young people, the youth pastor’s counseling can be invaluable. He can ease the counseling load on other pastors. For this counseling ministry to be effective, the youth pastor must ensure that his counselling abilities are good and he maintains the highest level of counseling ethics required of all counselors.

4.3. Saturday

Saturday is a busy day for the youth pastor, as most young people are available to be visited or to attend activities. Saturday particularly important for Young Adult activities, and should be used wisely. It will involve a combination of the items discussed elsewhere in this assignment.

4.4. Monthly Activities

Coordinating Youth Calendars - One of the most important tasks of the youth pastor is to co-ordinate the various youth ministry calendars. It is the nature of young people to be spontaneous, but this, and the sheer quantity of youth activities, can often result in clashes and conflicts between different groups, and between the youth and the rest of the church. The youth pastor should have overall control of the youth calendars and in conjunction with the other pastors and administrators, to plan the overall church calendar to minimize these clashes.

Finances - One of the most sensitive and potentially harmful aspects of ministry is the use (and abuse) of finances. The youth pastor must not only be in the forefront of ensuring that the various youth ministries are well financed by being involved with budgeting and motivation for finances (including fund raising, etc.), but must actively assist (if not control) the various youth ministry finances. Young people are notoriously bad with finances, and the youth pastor must not only ensure that no abuses place, but must also teach and model good stewardship of church resources.

Communication and Advertising - In order to ensure that information is reaching the church community, the youth pastor must co-ordinate the dissemination of information and advertising of all the different groups, and link this in with the church’s own advertising. A monthly/term newsletter aimed at the young people is one way of doing this. Other methods would include fliers, brochures, invitations, posters and banners.

Family Ministries - "Families have unparalleled influence on the development of their children’s lives and character" (DeVries 1994:79). Because of this, youth pastors (and, in fact, the entire church leadership team) must continually be assisting families develop and grow. Healthy families are the basis of healthy community, something that the church should be encouraging developing. Youth pastors obviously have a vital role to play, as they work closest with the children of families. There are number of regular activities that the youth pastor could organize, including, parent’s support groups, parent/family training evenings, family youth group activities (where parents and children are involved), parents’ newsletters, family visitation and counseling (see above) and coordinating practical help, such as providing lifts for children when parents cannot.

Committee Meetings - There are a number of meetings that the youth pastor must attend, including youth group committee meetings (not to chair, but to participate and give instruction), youth council meetings (to co-ordinate the various youth ministries, on a quarterly basis - see below), and presenting reports to elders and deacons meetings (not necessarily personally; these reports may be written - see "Responsibility" discussed above). There may be committees for special events, such as youth rallies, camps and mission outreaches. Other meetings that a youth pastor could consider attending include pastoral fraternals, denominational meetings, meetings of para-church organizations (especially youth organizations in the area), and community meetings at schools, youth centers, town councils, etc.

Involvement at Local Schools and Youth Centers - Wherever possible the youth pastor should become involved in local schools, colleges, children’s homes, day care centres, youth centers, etc., as these are key points of contact with the community. Where such activities do not exist in the community (e.g. after school care centres), the church may consider providing such a service. This would be an important avenue of outreach for the youth ministry.

Even in seemingly trivial and "a-spiritual" matters, it is essential that the youth pastor demonstrate to the young people that Gospel extends to their entire lives. Where young people are battling emotionally, physically, mentally, etc., the youth pastor should be able to offer assistance. This will mean involvement from sports coaching to offering extra lessons to crisis counseling. This can be done at the church or through local organizations and schools. Obviously the youth pastor may not skilled or have enough time for all of these activities, but should be actively involved in setting them up and coordinating them.

4.5. Quarterly and Annual Activities

Special Events - These will include FBH picnics, Missions trips (e.g. Beach missions, Mozambique short term missions, weekend missions to squatter camps, etc.), Holiday clubs, inter-church fun days, youth rallies, youth outreach events, and like. The youth pastor will obviously play an important motivating and coordinating role in these activities, although they actually by run be other church members. When other youth leaders take a break for holidays, the youth pastor must be organizing activities for the young people who don’t go away, and should be involving temporary adult leaders for these events. The holidays are traditionally a time when no youth ministry occurs - which is a total waste of an ideal opportunity to interact with young people. Missions and Outreach - One of the most important avenues for growth and development is service, especially short-term missions, evangelism and outreach. The youth pastor should work with the other church ministries ensure that young people are involved in this.

Formal Youth Leadership Training - The youth pastor is in the ideal situation to organize and run youth leader’s training workshops. These may take the form of evening discussion groups, day seminars, weekend, or even week long, conferences. youth pastor may link in with other youth organizations (such as SU, YFC and BYSA), or may organize such an event specifically for the leaders in his own church. Larger churches should also realize their privileged position in terms of resources and facilities, and should consider opening such seminars to other churches, especially those churches in underprivileged areas. addition to organizing such conferences, the youth pastor should ensure that he attends at least one such conference during year to get input into his life and ministry.

4.6. General Activities and Responsibilities

Building Relationships with Youth and Youth Leaders - Most of the above-mentioned activities involve relationship-building in some way. "Quality youth ministry is built on the foundation of meaningful relationships. Beyond all the hype and flashy programs, it’s the relationships with kids that measure an outstanding youth group" (Fields 1992:10; cf. Burns 1988:16f.). Obviously, the youth pastor cannot have a meaningful relationship with every young person in the church, but it is his responsibility to ensure that each young person has access to mature Christians with whom quality relationships are possible. will involve motivating discipleship relationships, organizing surrogate "parents" and adults to be involved in the youth groups, facilitating support and accountability structures, and working with the other pastors and leaders to co-ordinate the resources the church to assist young people in their time of growing up.

Coordinating and Integrating Youth Ministries - The youth activities of most churches are autonomous ministries that operate with independent methods and objectives. Because of this, most young people who leave the church do so during a transition period (i.e. between Primary and High School, between teen and young adult ministries, between college and career, etc.). If youth ministries of the church had an integrated approach that worked consistently and interdependently from birth to young adulthood, this may be minimized. This requires one central oversight committee (such as a Youth Council), with a youth specialist directing and coordinating the various ministries, and ensuring the integration of these into the other ministries of church. It also requires an informed judgment to know when to start new programs, when to change programs and when scrap programs.

The goal of developing mature Christians should always be the focus. If this is not done, we will soon discover as DeVries that "our program succeeded in leading [them] to become mature Christian teenagers, but somehow failed to place [them] on right track towards mature Christian adulthood. [It was] short-sighted, focusing on the short-term objective of keeping [young people] involved and growing but forgetting the long-term goal of laying a foundation that would last" (1994:24, emphasis original). The youth pastor is therefore the shepherd of the youth in the church.

Integrating Young People into the Life of the Church - One of the primary goals of youth ministry is to produce mature Christians who will serve within the local church. The youth pastor must assist in creating opportunities and channels for involvement of young people in the life of the church, and for the integration of youth ministries into the broader church ministries. For example, youth mission trips should be coordinated through the church missions committee, and not be run independently. The young people should feel that they have an important place in the church, and are not an isolated group sitting on the sidelines of "real" ministry.

Leadership and Direction-Setting - The youth pastor, as the "professional" youth worker has the responsibility to ensure development of the church’s youth ministries. He should be at the forefront of implementing strategies for development and suggesting methods of resolving problems and addressing needs. He should be identifying strengths and weaknesses, and implementing plans to address these. He should be identifying potential opportunities and threats and proactively responding these. The church should perceive him as a leader in the area of youth ministries, and should be confident in the direction suggests.

Evaluation of Youth Ministry - Closely related to the previous section is the task of ongoing evaluation of the entire youth ministry, and each of the individual elements thereof. This evaluation will lead to an identification of problems, which in turn should be addressed by training, strategies, etc. It is essential that at one centralized point, the church’s youth ministry is being constantly evaluated, honed and strengthened.

Worship and Music - "One of the main goals of a good youth ministry program should be to develop an understanding of enthusiasm for worship" (Burns 1988:104). One of the most common factors in churches with successful youth ministries is the church truly worships. This is not to say that the young people are always accommodated in worship style, but that there exists in the church an attitude of worshipping in "spirit and truth" (John 4:23). The youth pastor should actively promote worship groups, drama teams, youth choirs, while also teaching on worship, motivating worship in youth groups, and helping the church to accommodate the young people’s style of worship into the life of the church. The youth pastor who has musical ability is further able to connect in an area that is important to all young people, and can play vital role in assisting young people to analyze and develop their ability to respond to God’s love by worshipping Him through music.

Pastoral Staff Relationships - The youth pastor will invariably be working as part of a team, and should be involved in developing a "team spirit" through actively pursuing staff relationships. Since the youth pastor is also likely to be the youngest pastor on the staff, he should pursue mentoring relationships with the other pastors and elders, to assist in his own personal development. If possible, a ministry support team should be set up to encourage and support the youth pastor, his family, and ministry in the church.

Administration - As with all ministries and pastorates there is the need for effective administration, so that nothing falls between

the cracks. This may include functions such as maintaining a database of young people, organizing practical matters, such resources, car pools, and the like, and maintaining correspondence. The youth pastor may also need to assist with the general administration of the church, such as following up newcomers, maintaining the church buildings, helping to put together the brochure, etc.

General Assistance - The youth pastor must be prepared to take some of the general load of church work along with the other pastors. This may include activities such as hospital visitation, crisis counseling, preaching, conducting weddings and funerals, leading services, leading communion, and the many other activities that form an integral part of the life of a church.

Community Involvement - Increasingly in South Africa the church must prove its social worth to people. No longer can the church be an ivory tower for saints, it needs to get its hands dirty in community development, and especially cross-cultural inter-cultural) activities. Young people are especially to be challenged in this area, as their youthful, energetic enthusiasm, which is hopefully not tempered with years of racism, can be used to help build bridges between communities torn apart by apartheid. This should not be a synthetic attempt at window dressing, but a real outreach of love in the name of Christ. The RDP is definitely missing a dimension - the spiritual development of people. Only in Christ will our nation truly be rebuilt and united. All pastors, including (and especially) youth pastors need to be actively involved, both personally, and by motivating other people, in community development and relationship building.

Identifying and Tracking Youth Trends - The youth pastor is the qualified "expert" on young people. As he grows older, and distance between his own youthfulness and the young people grows, he will need to work harder at understanding and relating young people. As the modern world continues to change at an ever-increasing pace, the church must continue to make its message relevant. In this aspect of the church’s mission to the world, the young people can lead the way.

Being Available - When all is said and done, like any full-time Christian ministry, the job of a youth pastor is never done - always on call. As Fields says, "Availability is next to Godliness" (1992:18). Youth pastors must be good listeners, with open hearts and open homes. The young people of the church must know that there is someone who will always listen to them, always be there for them, someone who they can trust. This leads me to my next major section, which asks the question: Is it really necessary to have a full-time person fulfill the various functions described above.

5. Full-time "Professional" or Congregational Involvement?

Although the functions described above cannot collectively be adequately fulfilled by a full-time person, they could, individually, be fulfilled by volunteers from the church congregation. Why then is it preferable to have a full-time, dedicated person to do the job?

In the poll ‘Megatrends of the Church’ done by Abilene Christian University, one statistic revealed that ‘85% of people who not accept Christ by age 18 will never accept him. Ministry to young people is absolutely vital to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. If this is true, then the church should be concentrating its resources and energies in this area of ministry. This can done most effectively when there is a full-time person dedicated to the task. Churches without full-time pastors suffer and lose their effectiveness. Similarly, I believe that ou

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