A REFLECTION ON 2024 AND A DIRECTION FOR 2025
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So, do you only work with youth pastors?
This is the #1 question I am asked when explaining our work (with a close 2nd being some sort of question about the geographical focus - see the right column for that answer), The answer is mostly. If not, it likely has a very close connection to the youth ministry world:
An executive pastor looking for guidance on leading his youth pastor
A church leadership team with a struggling youth ministry
A senior pastor who was in my youth group needs a safe space to talk
I mean, it kind of makes sense, doesn’t it? I’ve LIVED youth ministry my entire professional career. I often joke that Liam Neeson’s lines in the movie Taken resonate with me when I consider the work, “But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career.” (to be clear, it’s only this line that resonates… not so much the nightmare and hunting people down and killing them part). I get it. I know uniquely different aspects of youth ministry. I’ve walked through the high highs and the low lows. I LOVE the opportunity to be a safe space to listen, ask questions, pray, and provide feedback. It’s comfortable, in a good way.
Back to the question, I’ve never felt a hint of concern or condescension from those asking if I only work with youth pastor. I’d be lying if I told you I don’t let that deadly mix of insecurity and the devil cause me to interpret it that way at times: Just youth pastors?Are they even real pastors?What about other more important pastors? Should I be limiting myself to them?
As 2024 has progressed I’ve reflected on this niche group and grown more convinced than ever that healthy youth ministry leaders are not only a worthy investment, they are essential to the future of the Church.
Barna Research Group released a study in 2022 that sent out a wakeup call to the Church to the significant effect the COVID pandemic had on pastors’ mental and spiritual health. Their research indicated that 2 out of 5 pastors had seriously considered quitting in the past year and 1 out 3 were battling through burnout. I’m grateful that their 2024 study indicates marked improvement in both areas. These numbers definitely matter to us in our work. We don’t want ministry leaders quitting, and we want them operating from a place of health over overwhelm. But there is a different statistic that has struck me deeply and drives my focus on youth ministry leaders significantly.
In 2023, Barna released a study that indicated 1 out of 4 pastors plan to retire by 2030.
Let that number sink in for a moment. 25% gone from church staff is significant and marks a potentially. And it is this statistic that solidifies and moves me past comfortable and to where I’m compelled to prioritize my focus there. Let me give you 3 reasons beyond “having a particular set of skills:”
We Can’t Afford Loss Beyond Mass Retirement: That 25% does not include those leaving ministry because of burnout, moral failure, or other disqualifying factors. I don’t believe many the retirees will be youth pastors (although I’m sure there will be some), and although I don’t have the researched statistics, I know far too many youth pastors who just couldn’t keep going and are out of church ministry completely. I believe our work can help limit that.
Many Current Youth Pastors Will Need to Fill the Gap: A pet peeve in the youth ministry world is the nature at which the role of a youth pastor is treated as a “stepping stone” - meaning that someone uses the role as an entry point so they can eventually be a a lead pastor. As a person who has more or less spent his life in youth ministry, I have never viewed my role as a youth pastor like this. BUT, I think it’s a huge miss miss if we don’t recognize the value having those who fully dedicate themselves to investment in the next generation for a season then making the move to a role involves working with an older age or a layer of broadened leadership. I currently attend a church (it’s the one I worked at for 23 years as a youth pastor) where the Lead Pastor, Executive Pastor, and Teaching Pastor all served as youth pastors. All three were amazing youth pastors, and I would argue they are better at what they do now because of their years in youth ministry. All that to get to this point, an investment in the personal and professional of current youth pastors will not only keep more pastors going strong, it will be investing in many who will step in to the vacated roles of those retiring.
Healthy Youth Pastors Will Call out the Next Generation of the Called: If you ask 10 pastors 50 years old and younger who played a key role in helping them encounter their call to ministry, I have a feeling, with the exception of parents, the youth pastor most consistently show up on the short list of those mentioned. Hear me on this, I truly believe every believer is called to be service for the sake of Jesus (aka ministry) no matter their career path (Matthew 28:18-20; 2 Corinthians 5:18, 1 Peter 2:4-5), but there is also distinct calling to some to serve the Church (big “C” occupationally (Ephesians 4:12). We made a valuable correction in the early 2000s to emphasize the “all are called to minister” message, but I would submit we may have made an overcorrection to the point the significance of the Pastoral calling. As we prepare for a mass exodus of our pulpits over the next 6 years, we need to make sure we aren’t creating another gap by having youth pastors who enthusiastically and authentically live out their calling and invite those in their crucial years of determining their future trajectory to consider a life dedicated to full time occupational ministry.
So, yes, I’m completely content and deeply compelled to direct my service primarily toward youth pastors. Because the future of the church may very well depend on them!
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