Left for Dead by the Church

Several weeks ago I was asked to write an article for Simply Youth Ministry. Well, this afternoon it was released. Here’s an excerpt of "Left for Dead by the Church."

Somewhere there must be a manual that some senior pastors read called
“Ways to Destroy a Youth Worker” because the pattern of hurt is
predictable. (This article is describing a termination for reasons
other than moral failure where immediate removal is required for the
protection of the church and its students.)

There
are secret meetings where a decision is made as well as a “story”
developed that will be told publicly. A meeting with the youth worker
is arranged. The youth worker, blindsided, is told lies about his
ministry or confronted with a politically charged issue. He is then
offered a financial package in exchange for agreeing to this story. The
youth worker is forbidden from saying goodbye to his students and
volunteers, all he is allowed to do is repeat the story the leadership
wants or else he risks losing the financial package. As soon as the
youth worker has left the job, the church leaders spread lies about the
youth workers ministry, relationships, or even family in order to
justify the firing. Link

This, of course, is part of my heart’s cry for youth workers. This has been a terrible week for youth workers over at YMX. I know of 3 people who lost their jobs this week and more than 3 in the preceding 3 weeks. As my article clearly states, we know turnover is part of the role of associate pastoral staff… no one argues that we are untouchable… but what needs to change is the lack of professionalism in God’s church.

This is why Patti and some other friends are working so hard to create Raising Lazarus. We know that there are many other ministries that do similar types of work. But few of them focus their attention on associate level staff people. A applaud Patti and people like Gerrard Fess who join me in speaking boldly in caring for the people the church has left for dead. I am tired of seeing youth pastors treated like the living room couch… the centerpiece of the living room one day, on the curb in the rain the next.

We don’t care to give the church a black eye… but we do care to help those who need to be raised from the dead.
Amen