YouthPastor Job Description: Be an Advocate for Teenagers

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about job descriptions and the role of the Youth Pastor.  I had a conversation with a couple younger youth workers looking for jobs and they sent me some job descriptions they’d received.  In general I think often that churches don’t always know what they want when they hire a youth worker.  The job descriptions I saw ranged from the church wanting a “relational junky” who spent 59 out of 60 hours a week in relationships with teenagers to the “program genius” who spent hours dreaming up new ideas to draw students into the church. I think both of those things have a purpose in most youth ministries but I want to throw out a new idea that might help you envision your role.  What if we looked at our jobs in the Youth Ministry world as the people who were the “advocates” for students.  That means in every setting we are in we speak as someone who gives voice to the teenage world.  So if we are in a board meeting we present the teenage point of view, if we are in a budget meeting we talk about the needs of teenagers, if something bad happens in the facility we don’t let anyone blame the students without any proof.  Our job then becomes the “translator” who brings the world of students to everyone else. Teenagers for sure need adults in their lives who care for them, spend time with them and listen to them.  But, increasingly I feel like they need adult advocates who spend time introducing them to other adults, speaking truth about what their culture is really about, not allowing stereotypes and assumptions about teenagers to shape any decisions that the church makes.  They need people who believe in them and even more than that are willing to use the power and status that comes with being an adult in many churches to also say that same thing about teenagers.   This is a way we can care for them and make them feel they are being listened too. My senior pastor does something a few times a year that is a huge benefit for our youth ministry.  He says “There are only two things I care about, missions and Youth Ministry”  every time he says that I know students and families in the room feel validated and valued. Advocates care passionately  about things and do all they can to support those causes.  My cause is teenagers and I hope and pray that in every place I am I speak to the goodness, the truth, the beauty, the hope, the joy, the dreams, the sorrows and the love that they embody. I believe the church needs teenagers to help free itself from the bondage that adults views, plans and process have caused.  We don’t need the Youth Ministry to be it’s own separate part away from the rest of the church.  We should be listening to the teens and their thoughts because they are as much of the “Church today” as the adults are. So that’s my job description.  Lars Rood: Teenage Advocate.