The Hardest & Most Rewarding Ministry


December 18, 2012

This Sunday I get the opportunity at my church to speak in our morning services. I don’t know about other youth pastors out there, but I still get people who ask me if it makes me nervous to speak to a larger adult crowd. My honest answer: “No!”

Behind my answer is my belief that youth ministry is one of the hardest areas of ministry one can do. I’ll relent and not say it absolutely is THE hardest. But I’d like to give a couple reasons why I think it’s up there.

1. The drama. It is categorically and stereotypically expected of this particular age group to be dramatic. Boyfriend-girlfriend drama – family drama – school drama – work drama – Facebook drama. Teens are the kings and queens of this stuff!

2. Their brains aren’t fully developed. This actually is part of the reason for the last point. And to be very clear, I’m not saying this in a mean way. They really, scientifically aren’t. So although this group of people will deal with adult-sized issues, they don’t yet have adult-sized cognitive skills to always (or maybe even often) deal with them.

3. They’re easily distracted. We live in an ever-increasingly busy world. You can do more today from a cellphone than you could 10 years ago with a stationary desktop. Today’s teens have more distractions available to them than any other generation before them.

4. They’re honest, rudely honest. If you do something they don’t like they may not know to be polite about telling you or even letting it go. Most of the time, they’ll just say what they’re thinking. They don’t always know how to polish up their thoughts and so you can get some pretty raw ones at times.

5. It requires a lot of and sometimes crazy hours. Youth ministry, real youth ministry, is simply not a 9-5 job. Why? Because sports games, musicals, counseling sessions, late night phone calls, and certainly lock-in’s don’t fit neatly into a 9-5 time frame. Any youth pastor will tell you that the ministry hardly ever stops when they “clock out” for the day.

It’s for many of these reasons that I believe it’s easier to speak to and sometimes work with adults. They’re more likely to play nice, even if they have to fake it. They’re less likely post on Twitter about how boring your message is if it’s not exactly what they want. And they’re less likely to ask you to give them an all-nighter for fun.

But let me quickly tell you why I think this ministry is the most rewarding ministry and why I love what I do.

1.  You get to impact people when it matters most. Plenty of research shows that the teenage years really are some of the most important in our development. The brain isn’t fully-functioning yet, but it’s getting there. And the decisions and habits that are made during this time often echo through the rest our lives. How incredible to be a part of spiritual leadership during that time!

2.  You get challenged. When you know you need to keep your audience’s attention because it’s short and easily lost you work hard to make your message stick. When you’re working with teen drama you’re challenged consistently in how to deal with conflict in the best and most godly way. And when you get honest feedback that’s not “nice” you get the opportunity to decide whether to get bitter or better. Youth ministry consistently challenges me to get and be better.

3.  You get to change the future. In youth ministry the next generation is not being formed into the church of the future. They’re the church of the present. But they are being grown and equipped to be the leaders of the church and society of the future. Youth workers get to do something about what our future will look like in our churches and in our country by the ministry they bring to those teens.

Clearly, working with youth carries some of the most awesome responsibility that I can think of. That’s why I’d like to conclude by tipping my hat, giving a round of applause, and just generally going wild for those people out there who are giving their lives to this cause. Keep making the difference!