Three Thoughts from a Rookie Youth Pastor

I have a confession to make. The reason I volunteered to work in youth ministry was so that I would have a legitimate reason to play Halo. It’s true.

That was four years ago. Since then I’ve gone from being the Wednesday night chaperone to helping organize and run events. About a year and a half ago I quit my job as a professional computer nerd to get paid to work with youth.

Four years later, I am still a rookie to youth ministry. I think I’ll feel like a rookie for at least another five more years. But over the past four years, I have learned a bit about myself and the teens that I’ve had the privilege to serve.

Lessons I’m Learning

• Teens don’t need another buddy. One of my pastors gave me this bit of advice and it has proven itself to be true. Teens don’t need me to be one of their peers. It’s weird when a 27 year old guy tries to dress and act “cool.” That is not effective relevance. Usually, they have plenty of peers who are already trying to shape their identity. What they need is someone who can remember what it was like to be a teenager, but who can show them the next step. They need someone to tell them hard things when they don’t want to hear it and love them no matter what. They need a mentor, not a buddy.
• What you see is not what you get. Sometimes when I speak at the youth group, it feels like I’m speaking to a wall. A wall that is busy texting its friend about Justin Bieber and is more interested in listening to its iPod than hearing my sermon. I’ve discovered that even though these teens seem uninterested, they are listening. And they are processing what is being said. I am not certain, but I would guess that the situation is similar for other ministries that we can’t judge what’s going on in their hearts strictly by what we see.
• Jesus is relevant. I think it can be easy, especially with teens, to fall into teaching a “how to” sort of mentality. How to be victorious at school. How to overcome pornography. How to be a better Christian. But one of the most exciting things I’ve been able to be a part of is preaching the inability of man to save or transform himself and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ as our substitutionary atonement. The most relevant thing I can teach a kid is that we have a living hope, that we can be given new life, justified before God and be made holy, on account of and through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I’d love to hear what you have to say about life and ministry. Have a helpful tidbit or pot-hole to avoid? Leave a comment and let me know.