That story prods at a sense of self-doubt that most of us in full-time youth ministry have struggled with at one time or another. Not just about the importance or feasibility of working with a small group of teenagers for little financial reward, but about the longer-term consequences of specialising in Christian youth work. Because let’s be really honest: there’s not really much of a career path to aspire to, is there?
Perhaps on one hand, there shouldn’t be: after all, youth ministry is about responding to call of God to pastor and care for the emerging generation. Missionaries don’t seem to stop to think about career paths before diving head-first into a remote and dangerous part of the world, so why should we be mindful of such earthly things just because our mission field happens to be the local branch of Hollywood Bowl? That said, at least missionaries enjoy a strong support structure, and return home to a church that is institutionally convinced of their importance. Many paid youth workers still struggle to be taken seriously by members of their own congregations.
The desire for personal development is healthy; some other kinds of ambition are not
It seems to me that something needs to change, on both sides of the equation. Thinking idealistically, we youth workers need to develop greater trust that the God who has called us into youth work will continue to sustain us in it. And perhaps churches, which so often hire youth work staff to fix a problem, rather than to fulfil a wider vision, have to start thinking about how to enable those youth workers to stay around long term.
Let’s start there: how much thought does the average church management committee or PCC give to the long-term professional development of their youth worker?
Beyond working out what the annual inflationary pay rise should be, how often do they discuss the feasibility of the life they’re asking someone to live? Youth ministry makes serious demands on anyone, with long hours, relatively low pay and (less so in the UK than in the brutal US) little long-term job security. But once that worker is older, and perhaps has greater personal and financial responsibilities, those challenges can feel untenable -incompatible with being able to plan a future. So those decision-makers need to put themselves in the place of their youth worker and ask: is what we’re asking of this person fair?
More than that, are they creating any sort of job progression for their youth worker? Is that even a concept they’ve considered? I know of faithful youth workers who’ve done the same role for the same pay for ten years or more; on one level this is wonderful, but I wonder if their churches have simply allowed the status quo to drift, rather than taking staff development seriously. Small changes can start to address this: a training budget and an openness from the church leadership for their youth minister to spend time supporting others locally who are new to the field.
Yet ultimately, if we return to the parallel of the all-sacrificing overseas missionary, we have to turn the spotlight back on ourselves. The desire for personal development is healthy; some other kinds of ambition are not. If we believe that God has called us to something worthwhile then we shouldn’t be surprised when it hurts; Jesus promises as much. So when we’re frustrated at a lack of career progression, a bit of self-reflection is needed: have we truly surrendered ourselves to God’s call on our lives, whatever the cost? Is our growing desire to move into a national ministry role driven by where we genuinely believe he wants us to be, or by a nagging sense that we need to get ahead? And let me light the blue touch-paper: is he really calling you to ordination, or does the offer of a job for life and free housing just seem much more appealing than struggling on as a poorly-compensated youth pastor? Only you can possibly know (and obviously some of us are called to ordination).
The Church as a whole needs to recapture a vision for youth ministry that seems to have drifted away in the last decade. A key part of that is reimagining the role of the paid youth worker, not just as a junior staff member on a road to ‘proper’ leadership, but a long-term part of the team responsible for a key element of the church’s mission. Youth workers need to be enabled to flourish practically and with the gift of proper management and personal development. Perhaps if that was on offer, more of us might be able to picture ourselves in the field for the long term, and people like my friend’s future father-in-law might begin to appreciate youth ministry’s true value.
