Have you advice re: "The Youth Minister"?

[spurly]

If he is to be year long intern, and if the church is not able to pay him a full time salary yet, here is what I would suggest to encourage him:

1)  Place him in a house with someone in the congregation - rent free - during the time he will be working with you.

2)  Make sure that church members are always having him over for meals.  Maybe even a sign up list would be handy.

3)  Pay for his expenses related to ministry - don't expect him to pay them out of his own pocket.

4)  Support him by getting the church incredibly involved in the youth ministry.

5)  If he has major expenses (medical, car repair, etc.) at the least, loan him the money for them, at the most, take care of them for him.

If these things happen, he might even want to stay longer than a year, even if he is not the best paid youth minister in town.

Kevin

[Bon Voyage]

As DDP used to say \"That's not a bad thing, that's a good thing.\"

I don't see anything wrong with the youth minister having an outside job such as teaching, mcdonald's, walmart, whatever.

If you may never be able to afford full-time, tell him.  The minister or youth minister should not have to do all the work of the church.  congregations don't grow that way.

[janine]

If our creative plans work out, we will get a young man just finishing school, who will come to us as a full-time youth minister for next summer.  He plans to teach for a living, so our full-time preacher pay can back off to a stipend as he shifts to his teaching job.

The kids are tied up in school, too, which cuts down on the massive amount of time a summer youth preacher puts into planning and implementing activities and service projects and devos.

So, he'll be here working and able to start his schoolteaching career, and he'll be the youth minister for as many summers as he is pleased with us and we with him.

Maybe we'll be able to support a full-time guy one day.

As for work skills... our preachers, just like our other members, are expected to pitch in as their health allows with different types of work.  We built our big gym-like \"multipurpose building\" ourselves; we maintain the landscaping, the office building, the church building, the roofs, ourselves.  A guy could get a smattering of training in laying concrete, bricks, shingles, carpet, tile, and down when he's finished. :p

[janine]

I can see how it might work out that way; I don't forsee it too much here.

Parents do have their hands in, they don't always just dump the kids, especially not the kids younger than high school.

How long before your kids are of an age for \"youth group\"?  Our group sometimes reaches down into 4th-5th-6th grade for devos, game nights, service projects, etc.  Does your church have parents coordinating stuff for the younger kids?

[janine]

Not that I'd want to waste a degreed and paid (such as it is) Youth Minister on keeping students busy and out of trouble :sarcasim:.

[janine]

Yeah-yer-right!

Of course, the main purpose of any minister's position, I think, is to facilitate what the people in the pews should already be doing anyway.

But, don't be discouraged if you feel like some parents (or God forbid, elders!) think of you as the babysitting service.  I cannot know people's hearts, why they'd think that, but I do bet many homes headed by people who think that way have kids who desperately need you & parents who think like you to guide them.

Exposure to your \"babysitting service\" might be all the true spiritual training they get.  Thank God for Kevin.

[janine]

Our congregation (perhaps 125 in attendance average Sunday a.m. service) has hired an intern-type youth minister for the past several summers, usually with good results.

We still cannot yet afford a full-time guy, but we're looking for one who wants to go into teaching or some other field that would allow him to work a job with lots of time off in the summer.  That way we can pay for his full-time work, and he can stay with us all year & continue building his relationships with the youth & all of us.

There are a few young men interested.  One who has \"tried out\" was known to us from coming down to help with youth rallies, VBS, etc., with his college group.  Also, many of our youth had spent time with him at summer camp in Alabama.

Nice kid, ought to do well.

What would you like to see a congregation do with him?  Do for him?

Can you see opportunities for taking him for granted & misusing him lurking?  Any warnings from your past experience?

[winky]

Time out for a relevant commercial break:

ACU's Center for Youth and Family Ministry has lots of helpful resources for both churches and youth ministers. I know there are some related to hiring youth interns and ministers. For anyone looking for either of these types, they can connect you with ACU youth ministry majors and recent graduates. ACU has the largest youth ministry training program in the nation, among all church-affiliated schools, not just C of  C. I believe there are usually about 150 youth ministry majors at any given time.

Here is the link to the Center for Youth and Family Ministry: http://www.acu.edu/ministry/centers_institutes/youth_family.html

For other ministry resources (in addition to youth ministry), visit
www.acu.edu and click on Ministry Resources on the left-hand side of the page.


You may now return to your regularly scheduled program.

[s1n4m1n]

Janine,

My advice is to make sure he gets plenty of work experience outside of just youth minister or preacher. I mean stuff like working at McDonalds or a bookstore or something. Let it be known that the apostle Paul didn't think he was too good for \"regular\" like tent making. I'm not really anti-fulltime preacher but I firmly believe that a preacher caste has developed in the churches of Christ ever since located preachers became common.

agape,

Ken

[socrmom]

Just a thought, my kids are not yet teens, but as friends with our youth ministry leaders, they say that so often the church doesn't really want a leader that can meet the spirtual needs of the youth according to how he (or she) deems most appropriate. What is actually desired in practice is a paid babysitter that will provide transportation, recreation and teaching according to whatever lens the parent sees through.  

I guess what I am saying is to treat this person as a professional.  He may not know what he is doing all the time, and as a part timer, it may be too easy for parents to second-guess his leadership decisions.

[socrmom]

My oldest is almost there.  He is in 5th grade, just turned 11.  Typically, the youth group doesn't start involving the younger kids until they have finished 6th.  Our schools still keep 6th graders in elementary also, which is just fine by me.  

My middle son will be nine at the end of the week.  And the caboose is a little girl, just turned 4.  

I would love to see a strong pre-teen program take hold with parents volunteering.  My hand seems to be in too many pots, so I am doing all I can to encourage a couple of cohorts to step up to the plate to lead this area.  This is such a great age. They love God, want to please their parents, and are not too filled with attitude, yet.

[spurly]

[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (socrmom @ Jan. 20 2003,4:13)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Just a thought, my kids are not yet teens, but as friends with our youth ministry leaders, they say that so often the church doesn't really want a leader that can meet the spirtual needs of the youth according to how he (or she) deems most appropriate. What is actually desired in practice is a paid babysitter that will provide transportation, recreation and teaching according to whatever lens the parent sees through.  

I guess what I am saying is to treat this person as a professional.  He may not know what he is doing all the time, and as a part timer, it may be too easy for parents to second-guess his leadership decisions.[/quote]
If I ever get to the point where I see myself as a highly paid babysitter and activities director  :alert:  I will jump ship immediately.  Unfortunately, that is what many parents are looking for in a youth ministry - something to keep their students busy and out of trouble.  :(

This is sad - but what more can you expect from parents who are not Christians or who don't have a very shallow foundation in Christ.

No, youth ministry is much more than that.  Youth ministry is helping the Holy Spirit connect students to the God who loves them.  

Kevin :priest:  :priest:  :priest:

[spurly]

[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (janine @ Jan. 20 2003,9:15)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Not that I'd want to waste a degreed and paid (such as it is) Youth Minister on keeping students busy and out of trouble :sarcasim:.[/quote]
Janine,

The problem comes when parents and church leaders think that is the purpose of youth ministry.

Kevin

[spurly]

:noddingsmiley:  Thanks for the encouragement.

Kevin