What if the church and the youth worker have opposing visions?

There’s a fault line running directly underneath a lot of church-based youth work, especially when there’s a paid worker involved. It’s often buried deep when the church is recruiting, with the impressive but flimsy architecture of a ‘mission to transform the lives of local young people’ built on top (probably in the job advert). Under the surface however, the truth is still shuddering quietly: most churches aren’t looking for someone to simply reach and connect with local young people; they want someone who’ll keep the teenagers of the existing congregation engaged, and perhaps bring a few more young faces into the pews on a Sunday morning. Even if they talk of some grander vision to see the kingdom come among local teens, most churches actually employ youth workers because they want to improve their congregation’s age demographic… and their shot at having a future.