I have been in youth and family ministry for 10 years, worked for 4 congregations under 7 different Pastors. In my experience here are some corrections that need to be made in youth ministry (in no particular order).
1. Being late or ending late (please respect my time and the time of the youth by starting and ending when you say your going to)
2. Being disorganized (Youth Minstry takes a lot of organization. Plan ahead! Spontaneity is a good quality, but not for the lack of good planning)
3. Not taking it seriously (Some youth workers, and congregations, think that because their working with youth it’s all fun and games. That is only a part of what we should do)
4. Not expecting enough (Kids in High School are studying Shakespeare, they can understand deeper levels of meaning)
5. Hiring uneducated or no experience Youth Ministers (This is not so much the YM fault, but the congregation who is trying to get a cheap “babysitter” for the youth group. If you are going to hire someone young and without experience it should cost you more because you’ll demand and pay for more training events)
6. Not publicizing events (you have to tell people several times that there is an event, if you don’t give them notice, don’t expect them to come)
7. Congregations who don’t understand that youth are going to break things (their not doing it on purpose, well at least most of the time)
8. Pastors who think the Youth Minister’s salary is the reason the congregation is in the red (do I even need to explain this)
9. Pastors who see youth ministry as a subordinate ministry because the youth minister is not ordained (see this post for more info)
10. Congregations who don’t understand that children and youth are going to make noise during worship (it’s ok for kids to make noise during church, it is not right to think they can sit their and be quiet for an hour. The adult world needs to get used to noise during worship)
These are just a few of the things I was thinking about today.
-jpserrano
An addition by E. Ludwig. “Don’t expect every stnkin’ minute to be used talking about Jesus or God. Sometimes it’s fellowship pure and simple and making church a place where young people enjoy attending.”
I agree!