What will youth pastors be like in 10 years?

Think about it… the youth ministry is a fairly new field, but has underwent many shifts.

Youth Ministry in the

80s= Sunday School

90s= Event, Pizza, and Gospel Message

Late 90s= “Purpose” Driven Youth Ministries

2002= Postmodern Youth Ministry

2009= Multiple youth ministries under one youth ministry

What is interesting is looking at what types of youth pastors come out of these different shifts.

Youth Pastors in the

80s= old guys/gals who love students and do it for free

90s=  Wild and crazy youth guys with no seminary training but a killer conversion story

Late 99s= goatees, models, and programs

2002= pissed off youth pastors who don’t like the church or home school kids

2009=informed, contextual, and open

I seriously think the success and longevity of youth ministry really hangs on the shoulders of youth pastors.  What type of youth pastors are we producing for the future?  That may be an encouraging or a scary thought.

Will the future youth pastors value:

education? church? theology? mission? programs? the Bible? numbers? Mega churches?  small churches? Jesus?

My predictions are that youth pastors will need to have:

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Experience

They will need to be experienced in both the real world and church.  We are living in a post-Christian culture, which means church is not exactly the norm.  Too many church youth pastors are too church experienced and have no real world experience.  Essentially youth pastors will need to have more of a culture intelligence.

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Character

The future youth pastors will need to have a solid character.  Character is everything.  Character includes such things as self-discipline, modesty, teamwork, integrity, purity, virtuous, hard work ethic, loyal, honest, courageous, fearless, tenacious, intelligent, consideration for others, and determined.

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Education

The youth ministry world needs more youth pastors that are street smart.  Notice I didn’t say church smart, but street smart.  The future youth pastor will need to know how to integrate culture, theology, and youth ministry.  It will be huge if youth pastors are seminary trained and have a great public school education.  Churches will need youth pastor to be very comfortable explaining why the other faiths are wrong and be able to clearly articulate a logical response without looking like a Christian idiot.

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Mission

Every youth pastor leading a youth ministry will need to have a clear sense of mission and a cause for why they exist.  As churches decline, it will be imperative churches have a prophetic youth pastors able to communicate truth and tell it like it is while progressing forward regardless of the pain and resistance.

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Another Job

Youth ministry does not pay well.  But we have tons of women and men who love youth ministry, which will compel them to do it and get paid peanuts.  Inflation is only increasing which means youth pastors will need to be bi-vocational if they want to take care of their family.  So if a person wants to commit to youth ministry, then it means working the late night shifts at McDonalds or writing a youth ministry book that pays great royalties.

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I think (and I can be completely wrong) we will see less and less of these postmodern pansy type of youth pastors who are extremely moody, and see more and more of youth pastors that are committed to Truth, Jesus, action, missions, the local church, character, and exegesis of the Bible.

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

I get this question a lot:  Jeremy how do I become a youth pastor?  Obviously becoming a youth pastor is an unique calling that entails a difficult and different process on how to land a youth pastor job.  In this post, I assume that one’s contemplation in becoming a youth pastor is constantly bathed in prayer.

1.  Start serving in your local youth ministry.

If you have an itch to enter the youth ministry field start volunteering your time and services in a local youth ministry.  Volunteer to clean the bathrooms after youth group, set up before  youth group, and do the odd jobs no one wants to do.  It is essential you serve behind the scenes before you get the microphone.  Make sure to pay close attention to the youth pastor.  Watch his/her every move and ask a lot of questions as you are scrubbing the toilet.

2.  Enter into a small leadership role.

After you have served in the youth ministry for a bit, start leading a small group.  It is imperative you begin to hone your leadership skills and abilities.  Identify what you are good at and what you suck at.  Meet regularly with the current youth pastor.  Be his/her wing man, trying to glean from his/her expertise and method.

3.  Go to a secular public university.

I highly suggest the youth pastor candidate receive their degree from a public university.  It drives me nuts when I run into youth pastors who were home schooled and went to a private Christian college to major in Bible and Youth Ministry.  I strongly argue that youth pastors will need to be well versed in the world’s culture to lead the next generation of teenagers.  It is not helpful if the youth pastor has spent all his/her time in a safe and comfortable Christian bubble attending “Christian Only Colleges”.  The biggest assets to becoming a great youth pastor is getting diverse youth ministry experience in different geographical locations and having a strong ability ministering to kids you are not comfortable ministering to.  Another disadvantage about attending a Christian college and majoring in Christian ministries will have no relevance outside of the church/Christian organizations.  There is a great value in hearing lectures from hard core atheist who hate the Bible.  In the public university, there is a social-psychology that future youth pastors need to be exposed to.  It is one thing to be cool at a Christian college, but it is another thing to be cool in a public university.  I have seen countless times a Christian ministries major get burned by the Church and they are stuff with a Bible degree in the real secular world.  I encourage a lot of my students to attend a public university and major in that can be easily used in the real world, namely Business, psychology, biology, engineering, journalism, and philosophy.  Maybe one day the youth pastor might not be paid by the church and may need a tent making skill.

4.  Intern

Find an internship preferably in a geographic location you are unfamiliar with.  Being a youth intern will give you the exposure and experience in order to land your first youth pastor job.  Remember experience is everything.  Do everything, even if you suck at it.  In your internship face your fears.  Make sure to leave a lot of room to contemplate, reflect, and to pray about your internship experience.  Ask these questions:

*  What type of church do I want to youth pastor?  Consider denomination, size, personality, theology, values.

*  What is the hardest thing for me to do in youth ministry?

*  What type of students do I attract?

*  What theological questions do I still have about being a follower of Christ?

*  Do Church politics bug me?  Do I tend to get heavily involved in them?  Or do I hate them?

*  Am I administratively strong?

*  Do I feel comfortable preparing a youth talk?

5.  Study, Read, Learn, and Retreat

Before entering your first youth ministry job, it would be wise to start constructing your theological values.  Where do you land theologically?  What camps do you find yourself resonating with more?  It may be helpful to start looking at seminaries and attending part time.  Simply get a great theological foundation under you before you fully enter the youth ministry trenches.  Remember our theology always shapes our methodology.

6.  Get Amped and Apply!

Interested in looking for youth ministry jobs click here.  Make sure to write a great resume and cover letter.  Also, ask 2 or 3 people to write you a great recommendation.  Start gathering past youth talks, youth studies you developed, and write your youth ministry philosophy.  Trust me looking for a youth ministry or youth pastor job takes a long time.   Be patient and make sure to utilize your friends and networks.  It is not what you know, but who you know!

Be looking for my next post on interviewing for a youth pastor job.  It will be titled:  Mastering the Youth Pastor Interview

© 2009 – 2010, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

How does a church select a great youth pastor?

1.  Look for a youth pastor who knows and understands what it means to suffer. What does their own personal brokenness look like and how do they handle it and lean into it?  Let’s be honest a church may not necessary want a guy/gal who has been in church their whole life and is basically a byproduct of Christian church.  My point is:  this person needs some “worldly” experience and wounds, but more importantly they need to be healed from their brokenness and issues.  It scares me when youth pastors are youth pastors because their dad was and they feel extremely comfortable in the church bubble.  This is why I always love to take a Christian bubble person in a very HIGHLY secular place and observe them as they get a preview of what the real world is like.  If were you only cool in your youth group, that is a problem.  : )

2.  A solid theological education. I am very biased about this one because I have a MDIV.  A youth pastor needs to know, understand, and know how to articulate deep and complex theological issues in a way that connects with a student.  A youth pastor needs to have an ability to portray the theological landscape to their students.  A theological education will (hopefully) open them up to see the complexities to theology and open them up to be open to other theological perspectives.  I argue that in the 21st century youth pastors will need to be deeply thinking about theological issues.

3.  A listener and a problem solver. A great youth pastor is one who can listen to many perspectives, personalities, and opinions and NOT react or be offended, and still have the ability to lead is the man/woman!  Every situation has a solution, but it is up to the youth pastor to listen, assess, and implement.  The great leaders are the ones who can solve problem with effective and smooth decisions.

4.  A storyteller. We live in a postmodern world that heavy relies on narratives.  If a youth pastor cannot convey an animated, entertaining, profound message through story, they will have a problem capturing their students. The art of storytelling is a gift and needs to be practiced.

5.  A deep passion for God and students. Passion is contagious and an emotion. To be honest, finding a balanced passionate youth pastor is not an easy task.  There are plenty of fundamental, cynical, jaded, and burnt out youth pastors out there, awaiting for their time to shine, only if a church would give them a chance.  One can detect passion in the overall persona of the person.  A simple question to ask yourself is:  Would a lot of people like to be around this guy/gal?  Is this passion for students an emotion that will last for a while?

6.  Understands fund raising. If the YM actually has a  youth ministry budget in a small church setting, than your YM is a rarity.  The cash flow in small churches are limited and the youth pastor will need to be VERY creative in how to fund the ministry. 

7.  Is self motivated? Can he/she work alone? In a small setting, the youth pastor needs to be a self starters and know how to follow through.  In small (town) youth ministry the church is lucky if it has a youth pastor, so all of the work will fall on the youth pastor.

8.  Knows how to generate and close a group discussion. Small church youth groups need more of group facilitators, than preachers.  Asking questions and keeping the conversation going is a task.  I use the Socratic method in how I organize my group discussions.

9.  A counselor. In a small setting, predominantly everyone knows everyone, which is an advantage.  However the disadvantage is the gossip and drama that comes with that.  Guess who gets to hear and listen to all of the drama of the students?  Yup…the youth pastor.

10.  The obvious. Loves Jesus, loves students, and their parents.  Has great integrity and character.

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.