Messy Youth Ministry
Want to hear a joke? How do you prolong adolescence and have a job?... Become a youth pastor! This is not my favorite joke but I see how it applies. Being a youth pastor is a difficult role because most people see youth pastors as slightly older youth (although legally an adult) who temporarily oversee the youth until we find our "real job". In all honesty, many youth ministers I know are pretty immature, goofy, and are certainly not the most organized or responsible. We are a bit of a mess. This is what inspires me most! God constantly used people in the Bible who were broken! God used not only the imperfect people, but those who were insanely unqualified, not talented, had little faith, and mostly were a complete wreck! He used people who didn't even believe in themselves like Moses. He used Peter and Paul to start the entire foundation of the Christian Church and these guys were a wreck before and after meeting Christ. The list goes on... but all this to say God LOVES to use messy imperfect human beings to do His work.
Last night we had a planning meeting to prepare for youth Sunday where youth lead the church service. I assumed most of the youth would not come with any prepared ideas and they would look to me to come up with an idea for them to do like in the past. They usually just shrug their shoulders and I assign them roles. So I spent hours and hours looking up skits and thinking about themes and verses. I came up with this whole redemption theme and showed them skits I thought would be good. I could tell they were not really on board. I spent most of the meeting trying to get them on board with my plan. I'm the youth minister after all! I get paid the big bucks to come up with ideas like this! Then I remembered that everything I believe about youth ministry is that the best youth ministry happens when the youth do ministry. Someone mentioned we should have a party/celebration theme since it's Easter. I could have just said... " Excuse me, I am a well educated and experienced youth pastor. I have already researched this for hours and I have tons of good ideas so this is what we are doing." Oh how that would have been so much easier! There is no room for ego in ministry. It was time to set the ego aside and let the youth do ministry! Party theme it is!!!
Like the army general once said," Give the troop the clear objective of what needs to be done, DON'T tell them how to do it...and be shocked at their ingenuity."
Teenagers are a mess! It's hard to let youth do ministry because unlike school they are not graded in church. Preparing for something at church does not usually take first priority.This leaves students a bit uncommitted and hard to depend on at times. Every youth Sunday I have been slightly terrified because I assigned roles but unlike a teacher in school, I don't make them turn anything in. When I ask them about their progress a day before the service sometimes the response is... "What am I suppose to do again?!" Teenagers are a mess!!!! I think this is a big reason why youth ministers on average only last in youth ministry for 2 years of less. You have to be a mess yourself to be able to handle it. I also think this is why most parents and church leaders get easily frustrated with youth and youth pastors. We are a freaking mess!!!!
This is why Jesus LOVES to use youth to do His will.
This is why I absolutely LOVE working with teenagers. These kids transitioning into adulthood are a mess! So many people just roll their eyes and shake their heads brushing them aside. I believe because they are such a mess God will use them that much more to bring glory to His Kingdom. Teens are a mess so they are not afraid to get messy. In my experience, most teenagers don't strive for perfection and they hate hypocrisy. They strive for whats real and easily recognize when others or programs are putting on a facade. Adults tend to get complacent and stuck in their ways. Adults are afraid to take risks. Most teens are not afraid to fail and fail forward. Mostly, because they have the ability to laugh at themselves. I love the question... What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? I think being young it's easier to try new things because most youth are not afraid to fail. Perhaps, this is because there is an expectation placed on them that they will already fail because they are inexperienced. They may not say all the right things and they may not have everything planned ahead of time or perfectly. However, they are willing to step forward without knowing which direction is the right direction. They simply just want to be used by God and are excited about it!
Thank you Nolensville First UMC for believing in youth and valuing teenagers so much you allow them to put together the Easter Service, the biggest Sunday of the year! Thank you for recognizing how precious and amazing teenagers are.Thank you for your humility by listening to what they have to say so that you may learn from those much younger than you. Thank you for setting egos aside and for trusting the youth will do a wonderful job despite their messiness.Thank you for supporting our teenagers by encouraging them to keep on serving. I am so honored to work at a church who values teenagers this much and believes they are the life and passion of the church. Thank you NFUMC for accepting my messy youth minister ways so that I can sit in the mess with our teens and watch God use all of our messiness in miraculous ways!
Last night we had a planning meeting to prepare for youth Sunday where youth lead the church service. I assumed most of the youth would not come with any prepared ideas and they would look to me to come up with an idea for them to do like in the past. They usually just shrug their shoulders and I assign them roles. So I spent hours and hours looking up skits and thinking about themes and verses. I came up with this whole redemption theme and showed them skits I thought would be good. I could tell they were not really on board. I spent most of the meeting trying to get them on board with my plan. I'm the youth minister after all! I get paid the big bucks to come up with ideas like this! Then I remembered that everything I believe about youth ministry is that the best youth ministry happens when the youth do ministry. Someone mentioned we should have a party/celebration theme since it's Easter. I could have just said... " Excuse me, I am a well educated and experienced youth pastor. I have already researched this for hours and I have tons of good ideas so this is what we are doing." Oh how that would have been so much easier! There is no room for ego in ministry. It was time to set the ego aside and let the youth do ministry! Party theme it is!!!
Like the army general once said," Give the troop the clear objective of what needs to be done, DON'T tell them how to do it...and be shocked at their ingenuity."
Teenagers are a mess! It's hard to let youth do ministry because unlike school they are not graded in church. Preparing for something at church does not usually take first priority.This leaves students a bit uncommitted and hard to depend on at times. Every youth Sunday I have been slightly terrified because I assigned roles but unlike a teacher in school, I don't make them turn anything in. When I ask them about their progress a day before the service sometimes the response is... "What am I suppose to do again?!" Teenagers are a mess!!!! I think this is a big reason why youth ministers on average only last in youth ministry for 2 years of less. You have to be a mess yourself to be able to handle it. I also think this is why most parents and church leaders get easily frustrated with youth and youth pastors. We are a freaking mess!!!!
This is why Jesus LOVES to use youth to do His will.
This is why I absolutely LOVE working with teenagers. These kids transitioning into adulthood are a mess! So many people just roll their eyes and shake their heads brushing them aside. I believe because they are such a mess God will use them that much more to bring glory to His Kingdom. Teens are a mess so they are not afraid to get messy. In my experience, most teenagers don't strive for perfection and they hate hypocrisy. They strive for whats real and easily recognize when others or programs are putting on a facade. Adults tend to get complacent and stuck in their ways. Adults are afraid to take risks. Most teens are not afraid to fail and fail forward. Mostly, because they have the ability to laugh at themselves. I love the question... What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail? I think being young it's easier to try new things because most youth are not afraid to fail. Perhaps, this is because there is an expectation placed on them that they will already fail because they are inexperienced. They may not say all the right things and they may not have everything planned ahead of time or perfectly. However, they are willing to step forward without knowing which direction is the right direction. They simply just want to be used by God and are excited about it!
EXCELLENT!GramE
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