MattCleaver.com

Reimagining Youth Ministry

  • Home
  • Youth Ministry has Failed
  • Best Youth Ministry Books
  • Church Websites
  • Contact Me

Neo-Youth Ministry Part 3: The Youth Minister

Last Updated February 22, 2007 by Matt 1 Comment


Neo-Youth Ministry
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Series Introduction
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 1: “Youth”
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 2: “Ministry”
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 3: The Youth Minister
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 4: The Youth Minister as Theologian
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 5: The Youth Minister as Pastor
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 6: Youth Minister as Spiritual Director
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 7: The Youth Minister as Prophet
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 8: The Youth Minister as Youth Advocate
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Part 9: The Youth Minister as Interpreter and Synthesizer
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Methods: Education and Teaching
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Methods: The End of Bait and Switch
  • Neo-Youth Ministry Methods: Local and Contextual

Having given some attention to the actual term youth ministry, we now turn to the role of the youth minister (or pastor or director, whatever the exact title may be). Before diving into what might be the role of the youth minister within a Neo-Youth Ministry, some things need to be said in regard to the nature of the office itself.

I am of the opinion that when the church finds a robust, biblical, missional ecclesiology the need for a dedicated youth minister may very well disappear. Teens and their parents will be fully integrated into the life of the congregation and will be a part of the missional nature of the church. There will be no need to quarantine youth to their own rooms and programs except for perhaps a very limited time. Regardless, a full-time youth minister may not be necessary. (In fact, full-time staff may not be necessary at all, but I’m getting off track.)

However, because of the current nature of youth ministry with its current reliance upon full-time youth workers, it would be naïve to expect churches to be able to function without a youth minister overnight. Of course, there must be a transition period which takes youth ministry from where it is today towards a Neo-Youth Ministry. The youth minister will be integral to shaping and leading that process. It is out of this context, acknowledging that youth ministers may ultimately be unnecessary but integral to the process transitioning to their unnecessary-ness, that I offer a renewed job description for the youth worker.

In order to envision a Neo-Youth Ministry, the youth minister will need to take on the following roles:

1. Theologian
2. Spiritual director
3. Youth Advocate
4. Pastor

There might be some other emphases that I’m leaving out; I’ll unpack that as I go.

The next few weeks will be spent elaborating on how all of the above roles will help cultivate a Neo-Youth Ministry that moves beyond youth ministry as it is typically practiced and has the possibility of re-shaping the church’s ecclesiology as a whole.

Series Navigation<< Neo-Youth Ministry Part 2: “Ministry”Neo-Youth Ministry Part 4: The Youth Minister as Theologian >>

Filed Under: Neo-Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry

About Matt

Matt Cleaver has written since 2004 on youth ministry, theology, and the church. His blog was ranked by Youth Specialties as a Top 20 Youth Ministry Blog. Click here for Matt's list of the Best Youth Ministry Books.

Comments

  1. PB and J says

    February 22, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    i think you have a point that there does need to be some transition time, but i also agree that we should be getting rid of “youth” ministry as a separate entity.

    at the same time, i think it would be very easy for most churches to find an intern who was a committed christian that would want the experience to fill in. ultimately, the pastor should be training parents and college students and other teens to mentor teens. the real root of the prob i think is that pastors dont actually shepherd the flock. they preach but dont train.

    just my thoughts.

    may His face shine upon you

    peter

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Best Youth Ministry Books

These are the books that will completely change the way you think about youth ministry, for the better. Links are to my reviews of each book.

Teen 2.0 by Robert Epstein

A psychologist makes you question every assumption you have about adolescence.

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry by Andrew Root

Why build relationships? Root’s answer will surprise you.

Best Youth Ministry Books: Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher

Yesterday I finally read Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Ostreicher, and since I’m one of the latecomers to the conversation I won’t summarize the book too much. Marko has linked to tons of reviews on his blog if you are interested in more in-depth summaries. If you are fairly in-tune with a lot of the […]

Best Youth Ministry Books: Postmodern Youth Ministry

Postmodern Youth Ministry by Tony Jones is the book I would recommend to youth ministers if they could just read one youth ministry book. I first read the book in my Foundations and Practices of Youth Ministry class at John Brown University. After the preface to the book there is a page titled, “The Day […]

You can find my new blog on philosophy and teaching at MattCleaver.com

Search

Archives

Categories

  • Best Youth Ministry Books (4)
  • Blogging (42)
  • Blogroll (1)
  • Book Reviews (17)
  • Books (32)
  • Christianity (50)
  • Ecclesiology (52)
  • emerging church (13)
  • Featured (8)
  • Links (27)
  • Ministry (4)
  • Neo-Youth Ministry (8)
  • News (25)
  • Personal (69)
  • Podcast (4)
  • Quotes (14)
  • Random (43)
  • Seminary (16)
  • Theology (48)
  • Uncategorized (50)
  • Websites (15)
  • WordPress (1)
  • Youth Ministry (149)

Copyright © 2023 · News Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in