I believe the ideal situation for a youth worker is to serve in a local church over an extended period of time and the best of the best options would be to serve in a local church for an entire career. That rarely happens, even in a senior/lead pastor position. Even so longevity is an important principle to strive for first in our vocation and secondly in our location.

While they are difficult to find, spotting a veteran local church youth worker (15-30 years) is not quite as rare as seeing Bigfoot. I’m in my fourteenth year of local church youth ministry but I want to reach thirty plus.

As I process how to become what I write about, I believe the issue is a lot of believers, and therefore youth workers, have an incomplete and skewed ecclesiology and this shapes the way we do youth ministry and our commitment to the local church.

Part of biblical ecclesiology is the emphasis of fellowship. Not the coffee and doughnut kind, or in youth ministry the pizza and soda kind, but rather the intersection of life and truly living out the “One Another Commands.” Here’s a partial list of what “One Another Fellowship” looks like: accepting one another; bearing one another’s burdens; caring for one another; comforting one another; encouraging one another; forgiving one another; honoring one another; loving one another; praying for one another; serving one another; and submitting to one another. These are the things that we should be emphasizing, agonizing over, finding effective ways to implement, and praying about because we know it’s the Spirit’s work, not our work, which will bring it to reality to our students, our church and our own lives. In other words, doing “One Another Fellowship” will make us better ministers to students because we are Christians living out a call. Our ministry to teens is just an overflow of our core lives.

This is hard and risky. If many of us dared to truly be 100 percent authentic in our walk in our leadership position, sharing the good and the bad even in appropriate venues, we might get fired for being too messy or too much of a ragamuffin. For the sake of the call, or so we tell ourselves, we cope by playing the role of the youth worker that we think the church wants rather than focusing on being an honest disciple living out “One Another Fellowship” who also has the privilege of leading students to discover more about God, His grace and His redemption plan for humanity and creation.

Another area that hinders youth worker longevity is the Americanized view of the church. Specifically, the common view that church leadership is one person who hears from God and shares the vision for the people to follow. Does God give some the gift of leadership? Of course. But the New Testament pattern is plurality in leadership. Even a benevolent dictator is still a dictator.

I grew up in a church that was amazing, did many great things, was referenced in various books on church growth, and it was led by one person. He was a great and godly man would have been a wonderful benevolent dictator on his own but he understood the need for godly counsel so though he was the primary leader yet not the lone leader. I’m grateful for growing up in this healthy model. I haven’t always seen this model in other churches though.

A common consequence of this top-down approach to ministry is the youth worker is sent to Exile Island to take care of the students. In similar form, you are the youth ministry expert and that makes you the one person who hears from God and shares the vision for the youth section of the church. This happens too often even when the main church leadership gives a verbal affirmation that the youth ministry should be well connected to the church. It’s just easier for them when it’s not. That’s why you are there. That’s also why so many youth workers hop from church to church to church to out of youth ministry. This is not what we were called to do. We think we can strive in our own top-down leadership position and create our own version of youth ministry. But we don’t because this is not how youth ministry in the church works. Youth ministry on Exile Island doesn’t work.

Another problem that hinders longevity in a local church is our idealism. Idealism that includes thinking we can do the youth ministry of the church on our Exile Island. Idealism thinking we have got to persevere for the sake of the teens. Idealism that if we could only get a larger budget or implement this new idea or whatever, we can then truly see our youth ministry dream become reality. Our idealism must be tempered with reality, knowing things won’t be perfect until we get to heaven, (sorry John Wesley, but he’d agree with me now), and understand that we too carry false and culturally influenced expectations.

I got sucked into that and it’s a struggle at times to resist but personally I’m dedicated to caring for my students and emphasizing their walk with Christ rather than them being on fire for Christ. I want them to be fully committed but that’s by becoming a stronger disciple and pursuing God with others as you learn to hear God’s voice and walk in his presence rather than attending another “I Love Jesus More Rally” with a kickin’ worship band.

It’s hard in our idealism to make the intentional effort to keep the youth group connected and to remind the students that they are a part of something bigger than themselves. But we must not settle for what is easy or for the cultural expectation when it’s diametrically opposed to a biblical expectation. That too is a long process and why longevity is so important. Being faithful over time, consistently loving and encouraging your students in small ways is better than making a big splash and having great events and then being gone in two and a half years.

Reality is I’ve heard too many stories of youth workers who were doing good things and would be labeled successful by almost any standard and yet were still forced out because either they were bringing in the “wrong kind of student” or their success was seen as threatening by an insecure church leader because it showed how the leader was not succeeding in the same area or other wrong reasons. This is a reality in youth ministry. Despite my own experience of not being somewhere for more than four and a half years and the experiences of others, I still desire to be at my current church for the rest of my career.

Finding “The Five Star Fit” is a necessity if you are going to stay somewhere for a long time. My current church is the best fit in every one of those areas that I’ve ever had and the reason for my hope that I’ll be able to stay here for a very long time.

Longevity in a local church is not an easy path which is why it’s a rarity. Too many youth workers quit too soon thinking something better somewhere out there. But the same idealism follows. Longevity in a local church though is a worthy goal that has tons of benefits if you can just keep your eyes on the prize and not be entangled by the things that take so many of us out of the race.

So what are the seven steps to longevity in a local church?

They vary according to where you are, who you are, what church you are in and how God is working around you in your context. There are not seven steps or even twelve steps. This is on you to figure out but I hope that you do the hard work to discern what it looks like in your setting. Know that the gain of staying for an extended period is worth any pain necessary to achieve the goal.

Where to start is to learn and understand the system you are in and become change agents within it as much as we are able. If you can’t change anything but yourself, work on yourself.

I encourage you to take two, three, four or twenty-four hours to be alone and go on a personal vision quest regarding your ministry. Ask yourself the hard questions about yourself, your strengths, your weaknesses, your passions, your dreams, what you get most complemented on, what areas you need to work on, and who you want to become.

Also ask similar questions about your church. Figure out what biblical passages or principles that you are most committed to and how they can be more intentionally implemented in your ministry. Ask how the current youth ministry fits into the vision of your church.

Ask questions about your town, your school systems, the needs of your community and how you might be able to coordinate those needs within the vision of the church. Not the youth ministry but the church which your youth ministry is a part of.

Pray. Asking these questions is a form of prayer. Pray through every step. Pray to be aware of God’s presence and plans for your ministry. Then rest and reflect on all these potential things that you could think of. Journal everything.

Lastly, and this shouldn’t shock you, go back and talk to the trusted leaders in your church about how you might want to execute your self-diagnosis and ministry-diagnosis within your setting.

If you can be fully committed to where you are, have a proper understanding of who you are, have a proper understanding who the church is, have a proper understanding of who your students are and how to best reach them, you are aligning the right things necessary for longevity.

—————————————————————–

Len Evans has been in full time youth ministry since graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1994. He is the author of Creative Bible Lessons in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. He’s written for The Journal of Student Ministries, Youthworker Journal and Group. He is the Youth Pastor of Melonie Park Church in Lubbock, TX. He is also a friend on the Wild Frontier. He can be reached at www.snavenel.blogspot.com