False Reasons for Youth Ministry

In the past 10+ years of Christian ministry, I have been in churches where the expectation for youth ministry was nothing more than glorified baby sitting. There was actually one time I heard a parent talk about how much they liked having date night when they would drop their children off early and leave them at youth group late! I am not making this up, this really went down… It was interesting and eye-opening to say the least. Maybe you have never overheard that conversation, but I can assure you that in any given church, in any denomination there are many different reasons the people of your church think youth ministry exist for, and many of them are neither right or biblical. 

I figured in the midst of this series that is based around a discussion about what youth ministry is for, I would jump in and mention a few of the false reasons for having a youth ministry. Maybe they will simply be good for a laugh or maybe (hopefully) the Spirit will use them to confront pastors and youth workers with what not to have as the focus of ministry.

•                It will save the church - Having a youth ministry may be part of the growth of your church, but it will not save your church. It will not ever save your church. Only the gospel will save your church. No youth pastor, no matter how great they are, will be able to give life to a dying church.

•                To raise godly kids - Youth ministry is not the way to raise godly children in and of its self. Again, as above, it might be part of the solution, but it takes much more for a church to have godly students than simply have a youth ministry. So don't start a youth group with the thinking that, 'now the kids will be godly!'

•                Child care - As the story above points out, there are people within churches that look at youth ministry as simply a place to watch their children. Now hopefully you will actually watch the teens when you are on a missions trip to Africa, but this should not be the utmost goal of your youth ministry.  

•                Only for those in the church - Youth group has to be fulfilling the mission that Jesus gave to the disciples, reach the world for Jesus. This means that a youth group cannot be just for those good church kids. It should look more like Wal-mart than a country club.

•                Only for outreach - Just as above the church needs to also care for those in the flock, which means it cannot only be about reaching the skater kids, and troubled youth. It also needs to be about ministering to the pastor’s kids. 

•                Keep students out of the service - Often the leadership of a church sees youth ministry as a way to keep students out of the service and out of their hair. There is need for rebuke in this situation. Jesus welcomed children and teens into his life, and so should our church leadership!

•                Replace parents - Youth ministry will never replace the roll that God has given to the parent. Although some youth ministers may have thoughts along the line of, 'if only I could get rid of these parents, then these students would grow,' this is a lie from the pit of hell. Don't believe it for one moment. You are simply called to come along-side the family and the church to make disciples who love and serve Jesus. 

What false reasons for youth ministry have you either seen in your ministry, or heard about from another youth minister? Use the comment section to share! Humor us and help us guard against the pitfalls of false reasons for youth ministry.

Josh Cousineau serves as the pastor of Redemption Hill Community. He previously served as youth pastor at East Auburn Baptist Church. Josh leads the Gospel Alliance, a network of pastors committed to the Gospel in New England. 

What Are Youth Ministries For? - Pt.2 - Biblical Foundations of Youth Ministry

I remember one particularly galling Wednesday night several years ago. The previous days had brought a familiar mix of high-effort, low-response, excitement, frustration, and discouragement, all in one package. And when I walked away from a house that night I had just one simple question: Why? Let's face it: There are times in youth ministry when you walk away from a small group study or a conversation with a family or a late-night program, and the thought occurs to you ... "Why I am doing this? Is there any good or compelling reason that I continue to pour heart and hands, effort and energy into this work of youth ministry … or am I just keeping the car running?"

 

A few months ago I was at a conference where I got to hear Simon Sinek give a short talk on "The Power of Why." His thesis: Why drives the how, how results in what. But this is the reverse of our normal practice where we focus on what, argue over how, and rarely figure out any justification for the whole enterprise.

So is there a clear "why" for youth ministry? Why this work with students, this endeavor within (or without) our churches to seek out and minister to teenagers? What do we find in Scripture that convinces us that this work matters and God calls us to it? 

The more I reflect on these 15 years in youth ministry, the more convinced I am that youth ministry is really just one of the manifold ministries of Christ and His church. It is highly-contextualized ministry to adolescents that can take a myriad of local forms that all look to Scripture for both guidance and goal. I make no claim to have THE biblical theology for youth ministry, but I can attempt a few words of call, challenge, and comfort that have lead me to a theology for it for our day in the church. This is my why. This is what I believe.

1. Youth ministry is mission work. The reality is that we have been called by a missionary God: A Father who sent His Son (for us!) and His Spirit (in us!) that we might be adopted into His family, united to Him as sons and daughters, renewed in His image and participating in His kingdom. I'm growing to love 1 Peter 2 more and more: "you are a chosen people, a royal priestshood" ... to what end? "So that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."  We in youth ministry get to stand at the foggy adolescent intersection of childhood and adulthood, family and friend, church and wider society. We stand and say it, sing it out: The praise of God to those who are adrift in the fog and lost in the dark.    

2. Youth ministry is corporate work. It is the church's work. The Church is the body of Christ, and where He is working, there the Church is to be found.  This family of God, this fellowship of Jesus, is sent (via the Son's command! Matt 28:18ff, John 20:21-22) on the mission of making disciples to Jesus. Though we love the church and are passionately committed to it, we point to Christ, not to it (or ourselves) - we want to see students called to a robust, sticky faith in Jesus Christ that is poured out in love for God and for people. 

3. Youth ministry is family work. God desires for these broken human families to play their part in telling his story of redemption. God has designed the family such that parents have the primary spiritual responsibility of telling the story of God's grace in creation, redemption, and restoration and then leading kids to know God, to love him heart, soul, mind, and strength with an everyday faith (Deut. 6). 

4. Youth ministry is student work. The church faces a world in which many adolescents are both far from God and in the dark - and yet none less than Jesus Himself is seeking them through the work of His Spirit.  Where possible, the church must partner with the family for the sake of declaring the gospel to the next generation (Ps. 71:16-18). But just as the church doesn't forsake the parents but must equip them to (re)discover their God-given role in the discipleship of their kids, it must not also forsake the kids and students who do yet know Christ. That means the work of training and equipping adults and students from the church to go out and share in the mission: Seek students, stand with them, speak out for them, love them, and bear witness among them to Christ at work in their midst. 

5. Youth ministry is welcoming work. The church must welcome kids/students into its communal life of worship and witness and BE the extended family of God to those who have been abandoned. If Paul can talk about the church as the place of new humanity in Christ where Jew and Gentile stand before Christ together, it damn well better be the place for adults and kids together, too.  As the church welcomes kids, it welcomes the Lord Himself (Mk. 9:33-37). Our welcome here is our worship (Rom. 15:7-9). Part of making a home for them means taking pains to teach them and make the long-term commitment to walk beside them into maturity as a whole human being renewed in Christ and ready to take up their vocation in this world. 

6. Youth ministry is desperate work. To persist in this ministry you must heed the call of God to know him for his sake, to follow him in full knowledge of the cost, and to boast only in his cross,. You must loosen your control, let go of outcomes, and lift your eyes to the risen Christ who speaks to your timid heart: "Take courage! It is I: do not be afraid… and I am with you. Always." Fix your eyes on Him, make your prayer that of Paul in Phil. 3:9-14, and devote yourself to the work of the Lord because none of it goes to waste (1 Cor. 15:58).

Andy Cornett is the Director of Student Ministries at Signal Mountain Presbyterian in Chattanooga, TN. Andy earned a Masters in Divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, CA and has over ten years of experience in youth ministry.