Avoiding Evil

I recieved some mail from the Youthworker Journal trying to get me to subscribe to their magazine. I actually recieve the magazine from a friend and I am getting ready to try it out for a year myself. I have liked a lot of the articles that have in there about modern facts and trends. They even did an entire magazine dedicated to postmodernism, which I have read…with a critiical eye of course. But, inside my packet of junk mail I did find this little list of 10 reasons why youth workers fail that I thought was interesting:

REASON #10:
Pressure to measure success by the number of kids who attend the youth programs rather than the quality of the ministry.

REASON #9:
The youth budget is often the first to be slashed in a financial crunch.

REASON #8:
Lack of support from the senior pastor.

REASON #7:
Lack of support from parents.

REASON #6:
Church leadership looks to youth workers to “parent” the teens.

REASON #5:
Parents see youth programs as glorified free babysitting

REASON #4:
Lack of clarity among church leadership over job description, expectations, and accountability.

REASON #3:
Lack of clear vision for the church, and youth ministry’s place in that vision.

REASON #2:
Youth workers burn themselves out trying to please…who?…the pastor, the youth committee, the parents…

REASON #1:
Lack of professional training and tools.

There are a few of these reasons that I have had to deal with myself. Some of them I don’t, but I know others who deal with a lot of them. It is a common fact that youth ministers don’t last that long and these are some good reasons why.

Pressed