Monty Burnham, Westy Egmont, Richard Hagstrom, Gordon MacDonald and Paul Toms (see Forum, Spring issue) discussed the following letter. The response is based on their observations.
If you have a question you’d like discussed, send it to Leadership Problems, 465 Gundersen Drive, Carol Stream, Illinois 60187. All inquiries will be kept confidential.
Q
Facing difficult problems is what daily ministry is all about. But, no problem seems quite as baffling to me as the task of sustaining an effective youth ministry. In the different churches I have served, the youth ministry has had more ups and downs than a “pogo-stick.”
I’ve read several books on how to have an effective youth ministry, and have tried through pastoral as well as lay staff to build a sustaining, long-term youth program. Most of the books say good programs start with good leadership. Yet I find that the most willing leaders of youth are quite young themselves, and aren’t prepared to deal with the complex problems faced by adolescents. People who have the maturity usually feel they can no longer “relate to youth.” Subsequently, the turnover rate of our youth leadership is incredibly high, and leaves in its wake a group of discouraged young people, disgruntled parents, and a frustrated pastor.
Can you steer me toward resource material or people who can help me resolve this dilemma?
A
Training youth “in the way they should go” must always be one of the top priorities of the local church. Therefore, your concern is one of the most critical questions facing any group of believers. Many of us struggle with this problem that’s so basic in concept and yet so elusive in solution.
Although you rightly identify leadership as a key to building an effective youth ministry, at least three interlocking variables affect every youth program: 1) The cyclical nature of youth groups, 2) The need for definitive ministry goals, and, 3) The development of leadership to reach these goals.
Part of the reason for the “pogo-stick” effect you observe can be attributed to the cyclical nature of youth groups. A high school ministry rarely maintains momentum for more than three years- one student generation. Since even the most carefully nurtured students eventually move to college-age groups, the leader may acutely feel the loss of his three-year (or shorter) investment, and decide to move elsewhere rather than face the task of rebuilding. In most cases, this turnover catches the church by surprise. Lack of recognition that the dynamics of a youth group are in constant change is perhaps the greatest inhibitor to a continuing long-term youth ministry.
Few things change faster. There is a world of difference-intellectually, emotionally, and physically-between a fourteen-year-old and a seventeen-year-old. Each sees the other, and the youth leader, from a totally different perspective. But failure to recognize the normal generational cycle and the effect this can have upon the youth leader is sure to produce an “up-and-down” effect.
Cycles are affected by size. Small churches tend to “lump together” a wider span of ages due to limited numbers. Larger churches may be able to deal in two- or three-year spreads. Thus, very small churches should consider combining their youth groups with those of neighboring sisterchurches for certain ministries and activities. Or, they can often make use of parachurch organizations such as Campus Life and Young Life. These organizations try to supplement all phases of a church’s youth ministry.
A second element to consider is your planning process. It’s very easy to sidestep corporate responsibility for goal-setting and place the weight of a complex, comprehensive youth program on the shoulders of a relatively inexperienced youth leader. We think the responsibility for longrange planning and specific goal-setting should be laid at the feet of your church fathers. Without predetermined and well-defined objectives (and usable resources), a youth minister has as much chance for success as a mapless navigator or a horseless jockey.
For example, youth groups vary widely in their purpose and composition. If the objective for your youth group is to lead established Christian young people toward Christian maturity, then the program approach and leadership style will be quite different from what is required to evangelize a group. Strategy and program commitment must come from those who are charged with “the big picture.”
As you so pointedly observe in your letter, the most critical aspect of youth ministry is the youth leader, whether he is a professional or a volunteer. When a church has enough financial resource to hire a youth pastor, the first consideration should be personal commitment to the kind of youth program the church has decided to pursue. Then, that person should be evaluated for maturity, insight, and rapport with young people.
When a pastor must rely on volunteer help, he in some sense “takes what he can get.” That might mean taking a slower route to ministry objectives to accommodate the growing capabilities of the youth worker, but volunteers can become very effective if they are carefully recruited and trained with a specific plan and program in mind. Obviously, the more inexperienced the youth worker, the more training and supervision he will need. But if there is no goal to reach or plan to follow, it will be difficult to develop more than a “nice-guy” leader.
The pastor dependent upon volunteers should be constantly looking for individuals who could take the youth ministry to its stated objective; and it always helps to have two or three candidates in training.
Several good books on developing youth group effectiveness are available. They include: Youth Ministry: Its Renewal in the Local Church, by Larry Richards (Zondervan); Youth Ministry Sunday, Monday and Everyday by John Carroll and Keith Ignatius Judson); and Gary Richardson’s Where It’s At (Victor). You might consider the numerous youth idea books published by Youth Specialities, Inc., or attend one of the discipleship seminars sponsored by Moody Bible Institute or Youth Specialties.
Copyright © 1980 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
