By any and all names, youth work is changing_111003

Posted: 11/07/03

By any and all names, youth work is changing

By Toby Druin

Editor Emeritus

He, and sometimes she, has had many titles–youth worker, youth leader, youth director, often youth and music director or other combinations, youth minister or minister to youth, student minister or minister to students and now, in many instances, youth pastor.

When Third Baptist Church of St. Louis called a person to work with its youth in 1937, believed to be the first such action by a Southern Baptist church, he was called “youth director.” Now with 5,000 to 6,000 serving Baptist churches full time–2,240 of them in Texas–and another 11,000 serving in part-time or volunteer capacities, he or she is most often known as the youth minister.

At First Baptist Church of Waxahachie, Minister to Students Gary Chadwick, 41, has 22 years' experience in youth ministry. He expresses a long-term commitment to working with youth, although he realizes his role may change in the future to become a mentor and teacher to younger youth ministers.

Once such a person might have been called to a church or called out of a church simply to give the young people something to do–to keep them too busy to sin. The youth minister often was someone who could play a guitar, organize some games and keep the teens busy enough at Bible study that they stayed out of trouble or, at least, out of sight and sound of their parents.

Today, in most churches, much more is expected.

“We now see youth ministers as equippers, mobilizers, as the champions of a team of adults who are called to ministry with kids,” said Richard Ross, professor of student ministry at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth.

“In the past, the youth minister was the key element in every youth activity, in every youth trip, and other adults simply supported him or her. We are trying to turn that 180 degrees to where the youth minister supports other adults in their ministry with young people.”

Family ministers

“Today's youth minister can rightly be called a 'family minister,'” said Phil Briggs, distinguished professor of collegiate and student ministry at Southwestern Seminary.

“And the youth ministry position may be redefined as family ministry with a focus on students because of the emphasis on parent training,” he continued. “You don't touch a lot of teens unless you touch their homes. Many pastors now want family ministers with training in youth ministry.”

By “family” ministers, Briggs, Ross and their colleague, Wes Black, also professor of student ministry at Southwestern, mean men and women who work with the total church family that is involved with youth–the youth themselves, the adults who work with them and the parents of the youth.

The ideal program, Ross said, is one where a youth minister spends about a third of his time with students, a third with the parents and a third with teachers of youth.

“There have been several shifts in how schools prepare youth ministers,” he said. “Now there is a stronger focus on the youth minister's role with parents. Years ago, there was the perception that he just worked with the teens themselves. Now we realize he can have a much greater impact by reaching the teens' homes and parents.”

Training the called

Southwestern Seminary hired Philip Harris as the first professor of youth education at a Southern Baptist Convention seminary in 1949. Now, all six SBC seminaries have professors in the field, as do many colleges. Howard Payne University for many years has offered a major in youth ministry.

Youth ministry is second only to international missions as the preferred area of service indicated by students at Southwestern, said Briggs, who noted that he averages a call a day from churches seeking a youth minister.

Enrollment at Southwestern has remained somewhat level, between 100 and 150 students, in the student ministry concentration, 30 percent of whom are women.

Among Baptists seeking graduate training in youth ministry, the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries–and particularly Southwestern–continue to hold a corner on the market.

Although many new outlets for theological education have sprung up among Baptists in the last two decades, few of them offer graduate-level concentrations in youth ministry.

Truett Seminary at Baylor University is considering a new concentration in youth and student ministry within the master of divinity degree, said Don Mattingly, who teaches some youth ministry related courses there. “We know we're behind on this, but we're working on it.”

Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University offers a master of arts in family ministry and a family ministry concentration within the master of divinity degree. Neither is uniquely geared for youth ministry.

On an undergraduate level, Howard Payne University continues to offer a vibrant concentration in youth ministry, with more than 50 students currently enrolled in the youth ministry major, said Chuck Gartmann, who oversees the HPU program. As at Southwestern Seminary, about 30 percent are women.

The HPU program offers “a broad education ministry degree with an emphasis on youth ministry,” Gartmann said. “Students have to complete a core curriculum in ministry, which includes classes in biblical studies, practical ministry studies and general religious education studies, in addition to classes required for youth ministry.”

Some students who complete the undergraduate program go directly into youth ministry or are already directing a church youth program when they graduate, but Gartmann said the youth ministry degree is not promoted as a terminal program.

“We want to prepare students for future study at the graduate level,” he said. “We have students who feel it is enough, but we do not perceive it to be.”

Despite changing patterns of training required by churches for the youth ministers they hire, there remains a market for youth ministry education at the seminary level, Black said. “These are people who definitely sense a call to youth ministry and when they graduate will seek a youth ministry position or other youth area.”

Tique Hamilton, a graduate of the HPU program, has been youth minister at Potosi Baptist Church since June 2002. He earlier served an internship at First Baptist Church of Brownwood.

He came to Potosi initially to fill an interim position on Wednesdays and Sundays, but it has become full time. His biggest challenge, he said, is trying to stay up with the youth culture, even though he is fresh out of college and only 23. “So many things have changed with computers and music,” he said.

He is fortunate that many of the parents of his youth also are the youth leaders, which makes it easier to plan. He is focusing on discipleship and leadership training to help his youth become more evangelistic and able to take over leadership roles.

Hamilton intends to go on to Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University for a master's degree and then on to a doctorate in youth ministry. He's in it for a career, he added.

Career youth ministers?

Careers in youth ministry are the exception rather than the rule. Gartmann said he tells youth ministers who claim it is a lifetime calling to find a church where they can serve and stay there.

“From my experience and research,” he said, “not many youth ministers who are over 50 are receiving many calls to change churches. I know several youth ministers who are over 50, but they have stayed in their churches for many years.”

Ross, however, said he knew of several youth ministers who had reached retirement age and many others who are in their 50s.

“The way you do youth ministry obviously has to shift and modify across the decades,” Ross said, “but it is possible. I was the youth minister in a local church for 30 unbroken years and the last years were much richer than the early years.

“Even in terms of relationships with teens, an older youth minister can have a significant impact. Young people today mostly have holes in their hearts because of non-existent or broken relationships in their homes. They are desperate to have a significant relationship with adults.

“When a middle-aged adult offers unfailing love, absolute acceptance and affirms the beautiful parts of a teen's life and encourages them, they will over time open their hearts. It's not automatic, but an older youth minister can build relationships with teens, and they can do it for a lifetime.”

At 41, and after 22 years in youth ministry, Gary Chadwick, whose title is minister to students at First Baptist Church of Waxahachie, has a long-term commitment to working with youth. But he sees his future ultimately pointing toward teaching youth ministers.

A native of Goldsboro, N.C., he is a graduate of Campbell University in Buies Creek, N.C., and earned a master of arts degree in Christian education at Southwestern Seminary, where he now is working on a doctor of philosophy degree.

“Youth ministry is where God called me,” said Chadwick, who has a son and two daughters. “It is my heartbeat, my passion.”

He is drawn to the “energy and vibrance” seen in the transformed lives of teens, he said. “Unlike adults who are saved, teens are willing to let go and get excited” about what has happened to them.

His focus is on youth, Chadwick said, and he spends about 40 percent of his time with them on an individual basis or in group settings. But he tries to spend that much or more time with adult leaders of the youth, many of whom are parents of the youth, preparing them to teach and getting them involved. The balance of the time is spent in the “drudge work” of administering the youth program.

Chadwick believes a good youth program will balance discipleship and evangelism, but it must have goals. “When we have fellowship, worship or Bible study, we want to increase our knowledge. All our activities are focused on our objectives.”

Changing landscape

His ministry has changed over the 22 years, Chadwick acknowledged.

“When I started, the kids were available; there was little competition for their time. I was at their schools almost as much as I was at church. Now that is very difficult.

“But one of the biggest changes, one of the most important, is that the self esteem of the average teen has absolutely plummeted. Teens are being forced to excel at everything and never feel anything is good enough. I am in a constant process of building them up and letting them see themselves as God sees them.”

Ministry has become complicated, Chadwick said, because of school and social demands on his youth. They have an abundance of money, and many options open to them on how and where to spend their time.

“Finding a free night in the summer was almost impossible,” he said. “Almost our entire junior class was involved in summer school preparing for college. Homework consumed them when they were not in class. Nevertheless, we managed to take 41 on a mission trip to Kentucky.”

Chadwick said he wished his education had included more Bible and biblical languages, counseling and administration and that his early years as a youth minister had been spent under the tutelage of an older youth minister.

“I definitely would suggest that if a youth minister is not going to seminary that he should work as an associate youth minister first,” he said.

Stepping stone?

Briggs and Black voiced opposition to using youth ministry as a stepping stone to the pastorate.

“It is wrong for someone to have a 'preacher-in-waiting' mentality,” Black said. “I think it is wrong, practically, because the man who says he will be a youth minister for two to three years and then move on to the pastorate too often doesn't get the proper training, experience or hone the skills to do a good job. It is also wrong theologically. If God has called you to be a pastor, you need to get on with being a pastor.”

Ministers who come to the point of leaving youth ministry for the pastorate, Briggs said, “have not identified their pilgrimage, defined their sense of calling and often are not equipped emotionally or developmentally to stay with youth.”

“They may also have other ego needs,” he added. “There is the desire to be elevated in their career. The pastor is at the top of the heap. He makes more money and has more authority.”

The ideal, Ross observed, would be for every Baptist church to have a fully funded minister of youth, “but that is an impractical desire. In the real world, churches have to call ministers in combination positions and some to serve part-time and even some to be volunteers. And there will always be some people in positions they know to be somewhat temporary, including some who know their long-term call is to be a pastor.

“Rather than negating the validity of that service,” he added, “I simply would call on those who are doing youth ministry for some short period to do it with quality. For example, it would be so important for that person to build strong ministries and an organization to do Bible study with teens rather than relying on his speaking ability to be the only source of discipleship. He also should try to strongly impact the parents and partner with them rather than focusing entirely on the teens.

“It is so important to build an authentic, deep relationship with teens because most ministry happens in the context of relationships,” Ross continued. “It is a temptation when you know the situation is short-term to remain aloof from those you serve. That would be a major mistake in youth ministry. We call on those who will do youth ministry as a stepping stone to the pastorate to do their youth ministry with authenticity for whatever period they serve.”

Longer tenures

That churches have begun to realize the importance of youth ministry is indicated in increasing salaries. In many, the youth minister is no longer the lowest paid member of the church staff.

“Pastors and personnel committees who have become weary of revolving doors where youth ministers arrive and leave, breaking the hearts of the kids, now are sensing it would be wise to call someone who will stay and put down roots,” Ross explained.

“That long term tenure requires a larger salary, and in some churches it is parents who are pushing for that shift because they have seen the weakness of immature leadership and leadership that changes too quickly. There are now some youth ministers making in the $60,000 range, and as they move up, others will move up as well.”

The characteristics of a good-quality youth minister, Briggs said, include a passion for kids. “He has to love students. He has to be affirming. As long as he has to deal with teens, he will be dealing with an immature commodity, and he has to be able to put up with that immaturity.”

Another key to a good youth ministry, Ross said, is “a willingness to listen carefully to the hopes and dreams and thoughts of the parents and adult leadership team.”

“I consistently find youth ministers being fired or losing all effectiveness because they will not listen and respond to thoughts about how youth ministry should be done.

“I like to compare a good youth ministry with a butter maker,” Ross added. “You agitate the 'milk,' allowing thoughts of the people to rise and inform you about what good youth ministry should be. Many people have hopes and dreams of what a good ministry is. The youth minister gives shape and form to that and moves it into something like a square of butter, which he hands back to the church and asks, 'Is this where you want us to go?' Leaders prosper who do that for the church. Those who arrive with their own agenda, with their own ministry and who pay no attention to deep-seated and sometimes volatile thoughts of leaders and parents will find their ministry coming to an end.”

“Good youth ministry,” Black added, “takes someone who is a good planner, who can not only think about what to do Sunday night after church but what a seventh grader should know about the Bible, his church and Christianity when he graduates high school.

“It takes a person who knows the Bible and current literature in the field. He needs to be an educator, a happy person with a good sense of humor and in good shape mentally and physically.

“And he must see youth ministry as a part of the local church's ministry,” Black said. “You can't separate youth ministry from what God is doing through the church. It has to be in relationship with the church.”