Subscribe to the Network4 Skills Your Next Youth Pastor Has to Have
If I were a senior pastor, this is what I would be looking for in a youth pastor. If I was a youth pastor searching for a ministry, this is what will make you attractive to a church. Add your thoughts in the comments, here’s 4 skills your next youth worker has to have:
HAS TO: Work well with adults
The work of the youth pastor is not really to work with students. You might have already figured that out already … or I can tell you now that you will someday soon. A youth pastor’s primary role is to lead and care for the adult volunteer leadership of the church, who can in turn minister to students. If you want to hire a great youth worker, it should be a person who is great with adults.HAS TO: Value the vision of the church
Youth ministry too quickly slips into the tempation to go their own way. That cannot be, when you hire a youth worker, their belief in the direction and leadership of the church is something you cannot live without. This might be why so many churches hire from within, because they get someone who is totally on board. Youth workers have gotten a bad reputation from moving contrary to the church, so make sure your next hire is completely on board.HAS TO: Be completely free of arrogance or pride
OK, this one isn’t exactly possible, because we all stumble here. I would just say if someone has confidence or is skilled, I’m very interested. If a candidate has arrogance and pride, the answer is a quick and easy no. The heart of the youth worker, often overlooked in the wake of numerical success or charisma, is the ultimate key to successful ministry. If you sniff out something you don’t like during any part of the hiring process, immediately move on to the next candidate.HAS TO: Be a servant
This one isn’t too hard to sniff out, but again search committees are too often drawn to flash and style sometimes over substance. A great guage of a person’s ministry heart can be seen in servanthood. Show me a servant, and I’ll show you someone who gets it and I want to model a life of faith to my students.
JG
Very well put, Josh. I moved from high school teaching to youth ministry about 8 years ago and quickly found out the importance of all of these factors. As I’ve been contacted by other churches about youth positions, I’ve tried to help them look for someone who loves youth and loves serving God and not just focus on someone who they think the kids will think is “cool”.