The Growing Edge of Youth Pastors
Picture the "AVERAGE YOUTH PASTOR" in your head. Get the picture in your head....
got it????
What are they wearing?
What are they doing when you see them in your mind?
How old are they?
In your mind... are they male? young college-student? Thin? dressed in shabby shorts and ballcap askew?
I have no statistical information to re-enforce this thought. It is based purely on my experience and my imagination based on my experience. And what my friends who work with youth pastors around the country tell me. I'd be very interested to see any stats you might know of regarding this issue.
It seems the average age of youth pastors is rising.
My guess is, the average age of youth pastors is around 35. I could be wrong. It could be higher. Average may be the wrong word, as there are plenty of 20-24 year old folks who work in youth for a season of their life, then move on to another area of vocation, generally outside the church.
Higher education has partly helped in this increase by professionalizing Youth Ministry by handing out degrees in youth ministry.
There are more 40 year olds in professional youth ministry than ever before.
However, there is still a stereotype the folks in our congregations have about Youth Pastor's being young.
I'm wondering why this is. I'm wondering what would change, if anything, if we changed the mindset that views the average youth pastor as a male, in his early 20's.
What do you think?
Our assumptions of "average" lead us to act and behave in certain ways that are not healthy for ministry.
I believe the average youth pastor has changed and we have not changed our assumptions... that's part of what's holding us back from being the kind of people God is calling us to be.
got it????
What are they wearing?
What are they doing when you see them in your mind?
How old are they?
In your mind... are they male? young college-student? Thin? dressed in shabby shorts and ballcap askew?
I have no statistical information to re-enforce this thought. It is based purely on my experience and my imagination based on my experience. And what my friends who work with youth pastors around the country tell me. I'd be very interested to see any stats you might know of regarding this issue.
It seems the average age of youth pastors is rising.
My guess is, the average age of youth pastors is around 35. I could be wrong. It could be higher. Average may be the wrong word, as there are plenty of 20-24 year old folks who work in youth for a season of their life, then move on to another area of vocation, generally outside the church.
Higher education has partly helped in this increase by professionalizing Youth Ministry by handing out degrees in youth ministry.
There are more 40 year olds in professional youth ministry than ever before.
However, there is still a stereotype the folks in our congregations have about Youth Pastor's being young.
I'm wondering why this is. I'm wondering what would change, if anything, if we changed the mindset that views the average youth pastor as a male, in his early 20's.
What do you think?
Our assumptions of "average" lead us to act and behave in certain ways that are not healthy for ministry.
I believe the average youth pastor has changed and we have not changed our assumptions... that's part of what's holding us back from being the kind of people God is calling us to be.
Labels: youth ministry
posted by mark at
4:25 PM
7 Comments:
i would agree with you. when i think of average, i think of young, just out of college/seminary, white, perhaps married or with very little children and have that young hip look. unfortunately, i also tend to think "oh they have no idea." and i know that thought is a bias i have to get over and not their issue - exactly your point about an unhealthy assumption.
good post - made me think.
My church (350 people, evangelical) just completed a YP search and the majority of the applicants fit the character description you described.
Those we had and 98% of the applicants were college boys or recent college boys. Few if any had a love or passion for teens. Our last 2 YPs told me they don't like teens or like working with teens.
One applicant lied on his resume, another listed references of people who DID NOT give good references. One was a major league suck up and others simply had a generic resume, no love for youth and were looking for a place to land.
The college boy using the latest fad as his crutch marking 4 years in YP so he can move on is what most churches hire as YP so that is the way most think of them.
It's pathetic how the Christian colleges are pushing people into YP as that is their starting point.
We received one resume from a real YP and I approached an out of denomination YP whom I know who was moving out of the spot he was in as he did not want to be a Assistant Pastor but a YP.
For the first time we will have an actual Youth Pastor and I could not be happier.
anonymous,
you have no idea how much I want to talk to you and hear your story.
would you be willing to talk?
email me and we can discuss it privately.
mark@theRiddleGroup.com
Nice observation, Mark. But why are we concerned about what the average youth pastor is or is not...and why are talking about it in terms of demographics? (By the way, you forgot that Mr. 20-something is usually also white with a goatee and a guitar strapped to his back).
Why are we not, instead, talking about youth pastors and their demographic of calling? We tend to focus on these issues when we're looking for people who could lead our youth ministries. Typically someone says something like, "We need to find someone young who can relate to youth..." and then we start thinking of all those demographical profiles. We approach this thinking that if we find someone who LOOKS LIKE the YP down the street, certainly they'll be a good YP.
Instead, those conversations should be starting with, "We should be looking for someone who, by their actions, has shown they really care about youth. And we should look for someone the youth respect and want to learn from." Age, gender, all that crap should be last on the list.
I think it should be forbidden for pastors and youth pastors to include gender and age information on their resumes.
dan i like your thoughts here. (by the way i think it's illegal in most if not all states to ask question related to age, marriage etc.. but most churches do it anyway.)
i'm simply giving one example of how assumptions and stereotypes we carry inform how we act, in negative ways.
How youth ministry has moved on and yet the stereotypes have not.
I do a lot of looking around the web at churches and youth ministry blogs. My own unscientific data shows that your proposed sterotype is pretty prevalent out there, particularly in evangelical churches where the youth minister is a white male, in his eary 20s, with a "beautiful/lovely" wife, and two "adorable" children, with a goatee, a slim waste and a love of sports/mountain climbing/ hiking/take your pick. At 41, I am well aware that if I choose to leave my present position, there are many churches who may not give me a second look as their potential new youth pastor because I am "too old."
I have been in the middle of hiring as couple of people for my small group team and of the 300 or resumes we got...13 were females. I couldn't believe it. Sort of related. I have talked with all of the youth ministry departments in the chicago area and for the most part, I have found that many of those schools are sending female students into camping ministry because there are more opportunities for women in youth ministry.
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