Ch 3. Building the Youth Ministry Team

Christian Research Association have released the findings from research done on youth ministry in Australia. The book is titled "A Vision for Effective Youth Ministry".

There is much in this research which all pastors, both youth and senior, should take seriously. In this series of posts, I hope to give a brief summary of each chapter. Of course, you will be much better off if you purchase the book yourself.

Building the Youth Ministry Team

Previous blogs have shown my thoughts on chapters 1 & 2. Now we come to the issue of the ministry team. Here the authors helpfully distinguish between a solo leader and a team – and it is a team that matters. As Mark Devries says, “looking for the ‘superstar’ youth minister does not help build long-term sustainable youth ministries.” Abandoning the search for the superstar also helps us to widen our consideration of the age of youth leaders. My experience is that being a youth leader in my 40’s was much easier than being a youth leader in my 20’s. Feel free to ask me why that might be the case. (A special shout out to the team I worked with at Surrey Hills Presbyterian Church.)

So what are the qualities for youth leadership? The research from CRA lists these five:

   1. Caring for Kids, Communicating Well, Building Trust and Appropriate Relationships

What do young people want? They want leaders who are friendly, engaging and easy to talk to, people who are empathetic, patient and helpful. They also want leaders who are fun to be with and, perhaps not surprisingly, fairly close to their own age.

“The heart of youth leadership is the development of good relationships with the youth.” 

Absolutely. If you want to know more about that, read this

(A Root – Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry). But these relationships need to have some boundaries, and it is always the responsibility of the youth minister to set those boundaries. Always!

2. Loving Jesus and Living the Christian Life while Open to Questions

A strong and vibrant faith is an essential quality of an effective youth leader. We would all agree with this, and I hope that you are setting a good example of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. At the same time, how are you helping youth to work through the questions of faith that they have? And the research suggests this is something we’re not doing as well as we thing we might be.

“One of the concerns that arose from our research was that the faith of the young youth leaders, while passionate, was sometimes narrow and naïve.”

Please keep growing in your own faith while you are helping others in theirs.

3. Building Bridges between the Youth, Church and Parents

Youth leaders, this is what you are. You are a bridge. So be a good one. For those of us over 40, we have an advantage over our younger peers because we have a stronger connection with parents simply because of our age. This means you can have a much greater impact in youth ministry than you might first think possible.

Building these bridges, regardless of your age, means there are – and should be – intergenerational activities in which parents and other people from the church are involved. Some churches do better with this than others, and The Salvation Army gets a good comment on this.

4. Being Flexible, Multi-skilled, and Well Organised

You need to be flexible. If something isn’t working at your youth group, change it. Now. Immediately. We don’t need to be critical of the teenagers who approach youth group like everything else in life – as consumers who continually evaluate what is on offer. This is what they naturally do. Make the changes in your program as you need to. (Please keep in mind what I wrote last week on this point too. Different youth connect with faith in different ways. Are you giving them any options?)

Parents appreciate good communication. You can test that comment in your church, or you can learn from the mistakes of others and just believe it to be true.

5. Engaging with and Networking in the Wider Community

Most of us who serve as youth leaders have grown up in the church and are part of church families. This is not a bad thing, but it often means that many of us don’t have strong networks in the community outside the church. But, if the church exists for those who are not part of it, is not this also true of youth ministry? (p24)

Conclusion

These five qualities are important to have in your team, but individual leaders will have different strengths and skills. When each team member is communicating well with each other, and each is using their skills, you are on the way to having a great impact where you are.