Here is an interesting discussion from the YS boards.
Is having the big house on the beach, the nice cars, retiring at 40 a sign of successful youth ministry? Or is it that book deal, being a speaker going around the country, having 1000 kids in your youth group? Is the “humble” talk nothing more than a facade for underachieving?
My response:
I don’t know the answers to these questions. But I am tired of the success line coming up in ministry contexts. In the end, all that matters is that we do our best to please God daily. That will look different in each persons place.There were 12 disciples who were trained by the creator of the world and each of them ended up in 12 different directions. (Of course, one failed miserably.) Some stayed in Jerusalem, some went in all different directions but Scripture only provides reports for a few of them.I guess I’m just tired of this whole conversation! I just wish we would change the language to “what pleases God in YM?” instead of “are you a success?”
The clarifying point:
I want to agree and I definately want to agree about language of pleasing God. But I wonder, how many claim pleasing God as an excuse for underachieving. For instance, a YM says they are about relationship and not program when in in actuality, they procrastinate and do not plan for anything? Or how many claim they are doing the work for God by being relevent to youth when in actuality, they are simply immature? How does the business of the church (a reality) judge the success of its youth ministry?
My counter:
I think you clarified that well.
If a church hires someone they are implying that they are going to work with them. If you hire a newbie you had better have a plan in place for a mentor relationship or you will end up with laziness masked with words like relational ministry, etc. My experience is that the “law of unrealistic expectations” gobbles up most new church workers and spits them out quickly.
Too often, churches think that their job is done when they have a little party welcoming their new youth person. In fact, the hard work has just begun. There are certainly stages that all new people have to go through. They have a period when it’s all about relationships. There is a period when it is all about program. There is a period when it is all about questioning ministry effectiveness. The reality is that churches need to have the mindset of a youth pastor being a person who is adapting and growing and maturing all the time, while at the same time leading and discipling the church’s young people or reaching out to the community or whatever.
In my experience, it takes a year or so just to get to “what are we really expecting out of this staff person?” From the staff persons perspective they also have to balance the answer to the question with two other things. “What does my church need me to do?” and “What is God directing me to do?” My point before is that we have all been called for different purposes and with slightly different ministries. Whether a church can admit it or not, their experience is gospel truth… so they are expecting your “success” to be, can we get the youth group to look like “this?” (Whatever that is.) Maybe it’s from a book like PDYM (which has gotten many a YP fired!) Or more likely it is from a favorite YP in the past or what the church leaders YP did. This is where the definitions of success vary.
For instance, my ministry loves the fact that I look at myself as a “community youth pastor” and they love that I am involved in the schools, etc. But they, generically speaking, get frustrated with it because they don’t see “church” the same way I do. If my role as a community youth pastor is to build up the body of Christ in my town… that doesn’t always translate into their vision of success in that the student ends up at our church youth group. 4 out of 10 of the students I interact with on a weekly basis I am encouraging them to be a part of their church! So, I am succesful in how I am building up the body of Christ in my community but unsuccesful in how I am building my empire. To date, the leaders see the value in what I am doing.
The rub comes when new leaders come on board who aren’t as flexible as the leaders now. Their definition of “success” will always be numbers. At that point, the longevity of the staff person is dependent on how flexible they can become and how subservient to the leadership they are willing to be… despite what they may “feel” as their calling.
Hope this helps move the dialogue along.
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