Why Youth Ministry Matters

I had a professor in college who said that the saddest verse in the Bible is Judge 2:10. It isn’t maybe a super familiar verse with many people. The verse says this:

“After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.” Judges 2:10 NLT

He argued that this was at the core of youth ministry. It is super important to be sharing the faith with the next generation otherwise we are just one generation away from nobody knowing God. It certainly puts some serious importance on the role of youth ministry and makes it about more than pizza parties and lock-ins.

The Youth Pastor Decline

I was a youth pastor in Northwest Yearly Meeting (NWYM) for many years at Meridian Friends Church and I was also a youth pastor in Mid-America Yearly Meeting (MAYM) for a short time at Bayshore Friends Church in Texas. I grew up in a Christian home but it wasn’t until I was in middle school that I accepted Christ through interactions within my local youth group one summer at a church camp. So I have been passionate about youth ministry for a long time and it has personal importance to me.

But many churches (not just our Friends Churches) are losing dedicated youth pastors for one reason or another. It isn’t all on a downward trend though. I recently sat down with Jesse Penna, the Youth Superintendent of MAYM, to talk youth ministry. Jesse just recently had his position increase from part-time to full-time. Jesse said:

“…[T]here were individuals, churches, youth pastors, etc. who really just kind of came to the elders in Mid-America and just said we really value [student ministry]…”

Listen to the full conversation on the NWYM Podcast episode 24

Sometimes younger people can feel like a different culture to us. We don’t understand their language, their clothing choices, their interests, etc. So we feel like because we can’t relate to them then they won’t relate to us.

We both have so much to learn from each other if we can only get over the fear of feeling out of place or awkward when approaching and talking to a young person. Start by inviting a young person in your church to coffee and just get to know them. Don’t enter into the meeting with an agenda or a job for them, just be relational.

The Need for Youth Workers

Another larger step that we as a Yearly Meeting or individual local churches can take is to invest in some key leaders to be youth workers. Maybe your church doesn’t have the budget to pay a salary for a youth worker, but you can send a key leader to some training to help them be better at youth ministry.

This September is going to be the first-ever National Friends Youth Workers Retreat at Quaker Ridge Camp in Colorado. The goal is to gather youth workers (whether paid or volunteer) from across the country to come together for a time of training and encouragement.

If your church has a youth worker, would you please consider sending them to this retreat? Having them gather for a weekend to hear other ideas and encouragement from people doing the same work as them can be super valuable. Find out more about this retreat by clicking here.

Our Hope for the Future

Young people are not more important in the Kingdom of God than other older generations, BUT if we want our churches to be alive and thriving in the decades to come then we need to be investing and being inviting to the next generation.

Otherwise, our future may resemble that of Judges chapter 2.