Youth ministry is wasted on the young

I'm feeling I might need to get a bit more regular with blog posts again. Sorry about the gaps to my few loyal readers.

So last you heard from me, I promised a blog on my recent (now a month ago) trip to Katoomba but that it wouldn't be of the travel variety...in fact Katoomba is just a jumping off point. 

For those out there in blogland who aren't Christians living the Sydney or thereabouts, Katoomba is often code for a Christian conference .In this case that conference was KYCK, a conference for teenagers which is held every April. The last couple of years at KYCK and any other youth ministry event I am often struck with the same idea. The older I get, the more I stand out. At any large gathering of Christian youth groups, you can see that the average age of the youth leader is 18-22 and youth groups like the one I'm involved in are increasingly odd (until last year I was the youngest member of our youth leadership team when I was 27, now it's our new Director of Youth Ministry who is 25- we are truly an old fogey team in terms of youth ministry). 

The attitude of many churches towards youth ministry seems to be a) that it is the logical next step after you stop being a youth group kid and b) that it is something you do until something better or bigger comes along e.g. you finish uni or you get a full time job or, in most cases, you get married. In some ways this is good strategy as it ensures you have an energetic youth leadership team who often have plenty of spare time but at the same time it creates not just a burn out factor but a burn out assumption, it often means there is little consistancy in youth leadership style and regular overhauls (many unneccessary) of group focus, and it creates the assumption that youth ministry is a less important ministry than the "grown up" ones you are involved in as an adult with a uni degree, a full time job and a spouse- the same is also often true of children's ministry. No-one thinks that it might be vauable to have some inter-generation ministry in action and that it might be good for teens to have people in their lives who aren't their parents or teens like them.

Youth ministry needs to be vital and alive and, in an ideal world, it also contains imput from people with a little more life experience than the average 18-22 year old. I don't mean to discourage younguns from becoming involved in youth ministry but if you are 18 and just finished high school and someone asks you to become a youth leader, I pray that your first thought is "would I have asked to be involved in this ministry if someone hadn't asked me to do so?". I pray that you consider the option before you prayfully before giving anyone an answer and if you end up concluding that if you were involved it would because it was assumed you should be and not because you wanted to be, that you have the strength say no and to opt to get involved in another ministry instead ( the same goes for those who are in their teens who are asked to be involved in kid's ministry). If you pray about it and you feel that youth ministry is where you want get involved, jump in with your full heart and join those of us for whom a free Friday night during school time is a dim memory and try and stick with it and see its importance. Youth ministry does need your young blood and without an injection of it now there wouldn't be any lifers in youth  ministry teams in 10 or so years time.

Members of church communities who are not involved in youth ministry make sure you support your youth ministry teams. Pray for them regardless of whether you have kids in the group or not. Get to know who the members of the youth ministry team are and NEVER make the assumption that just because someone is involved in youth (or kid's) ministry that they are younger than you would normally think there are. I have often been spoken to by other adults as if I was in my late teens or early 20s, or gone through the embrassment of explaining to someone that when I say something happened awhile ago, I didn't mean 5 or less years, I often mean 10-15 years. People often are shocked to hear that I'm not an undergraduate or that I work full time or that I'm enrolled in a PhD because they assume I'm at least 5 years younger than I am. It often not flattering - I know I look like I'm in my late 20s/early 30s not my late teens/early 20s and it sounds like people think I look old for my age- and it also is often very embrassing to have to explain that I'm older than assumed. If more older people were encouraged to get involved in/ continue being involved in youth ministry, this painful need for explaination would hopefully go away so if you hear that someone who isn't 18-22 wants to get involved in youth ministry (or you as someone who isn't in that bracket want to) encourage them to do so and don't think for a second that there is an age limit on understanding teens- I've been involved in youth bible studies with the parents of individuals in the group and often their teens didn't find this remotely daggy or embrassing (sometimes they did but it can work).

For those who read this and realise that you also belong to the crew that has been chillin' with the teens for longer than most, keep going strong. Don't ever forget that most Christians become Christians as teenagers and the ministry you are doing will shape the church in years to come. I don't know what Christ would have made of the concept of teenagers being as they are the invention of the 20th century but the Bible is pretty sure on how to treat Christians who are "young" in their faith and the support and nurture these should be given to these individuals by whole Christian community not just those Christians who happen to be close to their young and having of more time than most. Also don't forget that the church was fonded by people who were just like us, who were messed up and sinful, and often the teen years are often when people are most messed up and sinful. So never forget who important youth ministry can be.

As we as a society treat teenagers as children don't forget, don't forget that Christ says of children "And whoever welcomes a little child in my name, welcomes me" (Matt 18:3).

OK so not real teens but all google image gave me when I searched teens was photos of clearsil ads who were WAY too cheerful. I think the turtles are more realistic on many counts.