Questions For the Panel - Youth Ministry
Youth ministers and others working with young people.
84.5% of youth workers are satisfied with their work. Only 57% feel like they will be in youth ministry 5 years from now. Burnout, pay, stress, and promotion make up the reasons for the 43% of youth workers that don’t see themselves in youth ministry 5 years from now.
This is a very important question to answer for each minister. At times when we achieve higher than average, in anything that we do, we can feel like we have “arrived.” Once this happens we will feel accomplished and somewhat superior to the rest of the people we are serving. However, it is important to realize that regardless of our position, we should always be students.
In youth ministry, we should always remember that if we don’t have the trust of the parents, we won’t have much of a youth ministry at all. Therefore, it is very important to make a connection with parents. Meet the parents, know the parents and make sure that there is always a level of communication with the parents.
. First of all, yes, foundational teaching should start in the home (Deuteronomy 6), but should you count on that?
For the most part young people want to do their best to do the right thing. If you remind them on regular basis that most people are looking for friendship, and anyone that will just be nice to them, they will see the importance of greeting the guests at church. And ultimately it will make your guests feel welcome.
. To answer plain and simple, it would just be to keep them busy. However, if all it took was that, then every youth ministry would be a model group.
. In whatever you do it needs to be consistent. Consistency breeds belief in what you are doing with young people.