Attributes of a Great Youth Worker
This post is an excerpt from Lead Them to Jesus: A Handbook for Youth Workers (New Growth Press, 2021). Used by permission.
A church might be able to run a youth program with paid staff members, but it cannot effectively disciple students without a strong team of volunteers. Since you’re reading this book, you’re probably interested in growing as an excellent youth worker! You want to know how to make a significant contribution to the ministry while being an outstanding team player, and also how to recruit new youth workers to join the team.
Should Parents Volunteer in Youth Ministry?
Consider this scenario: A youth ministry is trying to serve as co-evangelist and co-discipler alongside parents, but there are no parents involved in the ministry or speaking into its leadership. Something should sound wrong about that situation, and yet it’s remarkably common. There are two main solutions: prayerfully select a few parents who would serve well in the youth ministry, or intentionally create a way for regular planning, affirmation, and counsel between parents and youth workers.
Parents are often excellent youth workers. Not only do they have insider information about students’ unfiltered opinions, they are highly motivated to reach their sons’ or daughters’ peers. It is a good policy for the youth pastor to have a personal conversation with a student prior to talking with that student’s parent about serving in the youth ministry. You want to be sure the student will not feel cramped and therefore dread coming to youth group. Also look out for students who are especially close with their parents and need a space where other mature adults can provide pastoral care and guidance. It will be important for them to learn how to follow non-parental leadership.
A key trait to look for is parents who are committed to shepherding teenagers who aren’t theirs. Parents who will only look after their own children and their children’s friends will show favoritism that will breed an unhealthy culture in the ministry. This type of helicopter parenting can also bring a critical spirit between youth workers and students as parents get viewed as chaperones rather than as mentors. But parents who want to support fellow parents by ministering to their teenagers are an incredible gift to the church.
What Makes A Great Youth Leader
1. Genuinely converted. While this seems obvious, it isn’t. It is surprisingly common for youth volunteers to attend student evangelism events and get converted alongside the students they are supposed to be leading. While no one can judge another person’s heart, baptism and membership (or a similar denominational equivalent) is a good expectation to ensure that youth workers have given a credible profession of faith. If a youth worker is genuinely converted, but cannot clearly articulate the gospel in their first interview with the youth pastor, it is important to provide adequate coaching before they join the team. Using a resource like The Gospel-Centered Life during part of the interview process can help you get a sense of their spiritual life while equipping them with a gospel-vocabulary to employ in their ministry to students.
2. Track record of godliness. Recent converts seem like wonderful, energy-giving men and women to spark revival in a youth ministry. But instead of plugging them into ministry, give them time to develop healthy rhythms of growth and maturity as their faith takes root. Youth workers set an example for the students they lead, so it is absolutely crucial for them to be men and women who are growing in godliness and maturity. Along with a credible profession of faith, this is of utmost importance.
3. Relates well to teenagers. This is a general rule of thumb: good youth workers talk with teenagers. Youth workers don’t always need to be the life of the party, and they don’t need to be cool or trendy. But good youth workers do invest the time and effort necessary to build trust and rapport with students. Staff your ministry with youth workers who connect with both extroverts and introverts.
4. Keeps commitments. A team of superstar leaders who rarely keep their commitments is a bad team. Teenagers need consistency, and a team needs to be able to rely on each other. For this reason, it is better to refuse a good youth volunteer until they are able to make a clear commitment. Of course, some work schedules can be irregular, and no youth worker will always be at everything. But a youth worker who consistently informs the youth pastor, “I won’t be there tonight, sorry” can derail the entire plan for that night’s meeting. It’s valuable to have a formal application process so you can see whether or not the interested youth volunteer will complete the application and turn it in without being chased down. If they don’t complete a simple application and turn it in, why should the team expect them to follow through when they volunteer to prepare a game or Bible study?
5. Is available. If a potential volunteer is so busy they need to make careful calculations about whether or not they can serve in your ministry, it is probably good pastoral care to encourage them to wait. Christians should not be so busy with work and life and ministry that there is no margin for rest. In your interview with the volunteer, ask how many hours a week they work and about their family, church, and other commitments. Busy and stressed-out youth workers will have limited capacity to truly invest in students (who are also busy and stressed). It is better to have a smaller team of volunteers who last for the long haul than to burn through everyone who expresses interest.
6. Receives correction well. Mistakes happen. Good leaders embrace hard conversations when lines have been crossed and mistakes have been made. Youth workers who take every corrective word personally either will become so discouraged they will drop out of ministry or will become divisive. This is not a license for you to be an authoritarian leader, but it is a recognition that leadership involves correction. While interviewing a potential youth worker, it helps to ask, “How do you tend to handle correction? If something happens and we need to have a hard conversation, what should I know to ensure that is a healthy and constructive conversation rather than one that leads to conflict and damages our relationship?” Honest conversations about this question early in the partnership can do wonders to set up a long-term, fruitful partnership.
How to Recruit New Youth workers
Here is the best way I have been able to recruit youth leaders over the past fifteen years: Carry a small notebook or create a note in your phone that is easy to update, and ask for volunteer recommendations from the pastoral staff, other youth leaders, parents, and students. Keep track of the names and note who is mentioned multiple times. After you have prayed through the list of names, approach the person and say, “I’ve been pray- ing for wisdom about growing our team of youth leaders, so I asked for recommendations from the church staff, other youth leaders, parents, and even students. Your name was mentioned multiple times. Would you prayerfully consider serving in the youth ministry? Unless your answer is an immediate no, I’d love for you to spend some time praying about this and talking about it with others, and we could meet in the next week or two to discuss it more. What do you think?” This removes the insecurity that is often present when someone considers working with teenagers, and conveys confidence that you believe the person can make a contribution to the ministry.
Having a simple application and interview process will serve you well. In your first meeting with a potential volunteer, get to know each other and share testimonies. In the second, talk about the youth ministry—why it exists, its driving values, its programs, and why are they structured the way they are—and the volunteer’s potential involvement. If necessary, a third meet- ing can address questions and clarify expectations.
Finally, avoid making your youth team a group of like-minded friends. Your team should not only be as diverse as the students in your ministry, but also as diverse as the students you hope will be in your ministry twelve months from now. Your diverse team will end up forming a unique bond. Encourage one another and serve shoulder to shoulder, because the youth leaders set the tone for how students treat each other.
Excerpted from Lead Them to Jesus © 2021 by Mike McGarry. Used by permission of New Growth Press. May not be reproduced without prior written permission. To purchase this and other helpful resources, please visit newgrowthpress.com.
