The job requirement was a mix of something like this:
Be super fun, super energetic, plan your own schedule but be sure it includes supporting youth nearly every night of the week. Use your days to schedule youth activities, communicate with parents, read your Bible, plan your class lessons, buy supplies, counsel students, manage volunteers, background check everyone. Be well-informed in current events, social issues, biblical studies, the latest and greatest games and entertainment for kids. Be able to communicate on all levels of social media and continue old fashion ways of communication for parents and guardians who have not embraced the 21th century (no offense.) Deal with hormonal students, parents who are frustrated, grandparents who are raising their grandkids. Be sure you know where you stand on moral issues. Be ready to declare your answers from memory immediately to anyone who asks, with 4-5 scriptural references. Stay within your budget. Keep your family first and live within your means. Work well with the pastor and other staff. Make sure every kid and every parent are happy. Create menus for activities that are gluten free, fat free, taste free so every student can eat. Provide transportation as needed. Oh and if you have any hidden talents—computer skills, video skills, washing dishes—be prepared to use those too!
And although I jest (a little), they still accepted the position.
Student ministers are perhaps some of the most unsung ministers of the church. Most of them start young and are just learning the ropes of ministry, and yet their job description demands for them to have the energy of a fourteen-year-old, while having the wisdom of a sixty year old.
Our student ministers, Blake and Kennedy, are doing such an awesome job with the students at our church. The heart they have to reach every student exudes through their prayers, planning and discipleship of each young person. They work all day and find themselves at various afterschool activities a couple of nights a week. They sacrifice time as newlyweds to be involved in the lives of others. I have watched first hand their deep passion and concern for our youth in our community grow in just six months.
Ministering in our world is a challenge. Ministering to youth during a pandemic is even more challenging. If your church is blessed with a youth minister(s) who is giving their all to reach this generation with the gospel of Christ, give them a shout out! Praise them! Talk good about them! Support them! Pray for them! They are often the hidden treasures of the church!
Today, I am thankful for the youth ministers I had in my own youth, the ones who made a difference in my husband’s life and the ones who have served faithfully (past and present) in my own kid’s lives.
What or who are you thankful for today?