The Death of Youth Ministry (pt 2) | The Church Doesn’t Take it Seriously
The local church as a whole does not take youth ministry serious. This is clear from the fact that youth ministry actually exists as I pointed out in pt 1.
The evidence:
Youth Pastor Pay
Group Magazine just released their 2007 youth pastor salary report. Now, I will admit it, I live in Southern California and the cost of living here is just stupid. Group broke their report down to regions and the west is at 42,000 just like the rest of the country, that includes benefits. the reality is that actual dollars to live on are 32,500.
Let’s put that in real terms, like buying a house. To buy a house that you can actually afford it is suggested that you not finance more than 3 times what you make in a year. Anything more than that and you are going to feel it in other areas and basically be a slave to your mortgage. This fact is starting to show it’s head in the form of foreclosures all over the country. I don’t know about where you live but a 90,000 house does not exist here. And I can imagine that in areas where they do exist, youth pastor pay is well below the national average.
What does this say about youth ministry? First, youth pastors need not actually be a part of the community that our church is in. That is to say, youth pastors cannot afford to live in the communities they are asked to minister to. No wonder average tenure is less than two years. Youth pastors can’t afford to grow roots.
Need vs. Want
I have found that most churches do not need youth pastors when they hire one…it’s more that they want one. Here are the numbers based on One Size Doesn’t Fit All, by Gary McIntosh. Gary states in his book that for every 150 people you have in a church you can support a pastor on a median income for their given community and also cover budget needs and other peripheral costs. He also says that a growing church needs to plan ahead and add a new pastoral staff person for the next 100 people in order to properly care for the new people.
So what does this mean? The same numbers should apply to youth pastors too. A church shouldn’t hire a full time youth pastor unless they have or are about to have at least 100 students.
A few years ago when I was getting ready to plant another church, I entertained a call to come and sit with a ‘search committee’ of a church of about 125 people. They thought they might want me to be their new youth pastor. I quickly derailed their ‘interview’ into an introspective time of what that church really needs. The church wanted a youth pastor and didn’t need one. The key families now had high school students and thought this was the norm.
What happens in a small church is that the direction of the church is driven along by a few key families. When the kids or grandkids of the key families become youth, then generally a youth pastor is added…needed or not.
The Little Things
The church needs some work done on some old lady’s house. Call the youth group.
We have a special event on a Friday night and we need to staff the nursery…Call the youth group.
Let’s throw the youth a bone once or twice a year and let them have a ‘youth Sunday’ dog and pony show.
The youth pastor approaches the board for a few bucks out of the missions budget for a youth ministry missions trip. The response; the youth have a budget.
The ‘youth pastor as stepping stone’ to a real pastor syndrome.
Conclusion
I know there are some exceptions out there and I also know there are more horror stories too. How else does the church as a whole not take youth ministry serious?
Not to burst the mathematical bubble here Vince, but I have to add a couple of cents worth to your figuring. I have done this with a number of pastors lately who figure they are getting the short end of the stick in terms of wages. First, pastoral wages are “deflated” as to actual value on two accounts. First, because pastors can deduct housing allowance, which in the case of pastors in SoCal, means almost all of that average salary you quoted, then the salary itself is worth 15% more than its base. On top of that, for pastors who have opted out of Social Security, that is another 15%. Pastors have a potential of 25-30% more take home pay than the average person making that much.
Because of that the house a pastor can afford usually is consider 4 times what they make. I know, I know. There isn’t anything there for $160,000 worth living in either, but it is closer. Also, the average salary for the west includes rural communities and tiny churches of less than 100. So I would think the realistic salary of a youth pastor in the west in an urban setting would be $50-60 K.
More math: It now takes almost 250 members to support a pastor in an urban setting. And that is if they don’t have a building payment. I really think the day of full-time pastoral staff members is waning. Most churches in urban settings will have one or two full-time staff with many part-time staff raised up from within the church. IMO.
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@mike math is not my strong suit for sure. Yeah, I am talking in ideals. I do think the days of full time support role pastors is over too. I would add that there are a whole lot of churches that won’t license their youth worker to get them the housing allowance.
What churches should do is vote to license the youth pastor in their board meeting until he can jump through all the denominational hoops.
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Vince, I think you made some good points in regards to evaluating if a church needs another staff person or not, and if a church takes youth ministry seriously.
I would add to the list of, ‘how else the church does not take youth ministry seriously,’expectations. We have, generally speaking, bought into the “their young, they can do something when they get older” mentality.
I am serving in a unique situation myself (volunteer Youth Pastor of a Mission, roughly 75-80 people and growing). One of our challenges, in my opinion, is to be taken seriously from our “Mother” church and the local association. They are supporting, but it’s hard not to feel like the little “side kick,” and who gets thrown all the left over crumbs (Oh look how cute they are over their being the little mission).
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I’m not sure I agree that because a new Pastor should be hired every 100-150 people, the same should happen in a youth ministry. Most Pastors have elders, worship leaders, children’s and youth ministers, deacons, trustees, secretaries (financial and otherwise), building managers, etc. to help with the ministry. Youth Pastors generally don’t. A youth pastor may be responsible for the budget, plans, wisdom, worship, prayer, and side ministries of youth group. All this plus taking care of the spiritual needs of 100 youth seems impractical. In his book “Habits of Highly Effective Churches,” Barna states on pages 119-120, “Our research shows that a majority of people who accept Christ as their Savior do so before the age of 18—nearly two out of three believers. One of the implications of this reality, by the way, is that the youth pastor is not merely a caretaker or Bible teacher but is the church’s primary evangelist. Think about that when you search for your next youth pastor!” Also, studies show that youth ministers today only last an average of 18 months in the ministry. This in itself shows that much needed youth ministers aren’t supported in the church like they should be, and adding more youth per minister doesn’t help the problem.
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@cassy good thoughts. True there is not a perfect solution. you hit it on the head when you mentioned the fact that most people come to faith when they are young.
in that fact, i see most churches ignoring it and tailoring 80 percent of their resources and time to adults.
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@Vince
Wow. Came across this article via StumbleUpon. As a guy who is happy to be a youth pastor right now, I am so so so so often reminded that if a handful of people in the church spent a few hours a week, my job wouldn’t be needed.
Along with the reasons you stated (key families have high school students), I think churches hire youth pastors because they can’t make the ministry successful because no one wants to do it.
Also, theologically speaking, i think a bi-vocational model would lead to a much more active, healthy congregation as well as add to long term sustainability.
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Very interesting. Thanks for this post and its companion. Your “the little things” section is brutally honest…but true!
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