Any Christian periodical tells the same story. The church is looking for full-time youth workers. Our response to the well-known and frightening statistics is to appoint someone (if we can afford it) to deal with our young people, or lack of them.
But this is not something new. The need has been there for some years and there are now people who have been working as church-based full-timers for a number of years. Some of these people started in smaller churches or worked part-time and have now moved to larger churches where they can work full-time. There are many different roles. Some see themselves as very much hands on who are in daily contact with young people. Some see their roles as evangelists and look for places like schools (or even streets) to serve God. Others work as coordinators with little daily contact. Many youth ministers are not clear about the expectation of their churches and try to juggle several roles, and end up being driven only by the expectations of different parts of their communities.
Where now?
But there is one phenomenon which is beginning to cause concern and can only get worse unless it is addressed. There are now significant numbers of people who have served as full-time youth workers for a considerable length of time. Often in their early or mid-30s most of their working life has been given to serving youth groups. If they are married they will probably have young children and need a ‘family income’ if they are to survive. Such people are beginning to ask ‘where now?’ Is all their experience of dealing with young people (many of whom are now young adults) to be wasted? Some are persuaded that their days in youth ministry were but an apprenticeship for ‘real ministry’ and they must seek ordination as their obvious career pattern. Some simply return to the world of secular employment and, for some, that may be a good path.
