The Calling to Youth Work - A Stepping Stone to Bigger and Better Things?

Last night, I was at Barnes and Noble scoping out the bookshelves for something new and interesting. I stumbled on an older youth ministry book that has recently been revised and updated. It's by Mark DeVries and is called Family-Based Youth Ministry. I came across this quote which enticed me to read the whole book.

In the forward, Earl E. Palmer states:

"Mark DeVries takes youth seriously, and, therefore, he does not see the role of the youth pastor as a steppingstone to larger ministries or what might be thought of as more important appointments. He sees youth ministry as a totally significant post, just as pediatrics in medicine is not an entry level into medicine that later evolves toward the 'more important' responsibility of geriatrics." (DeVries, 9)

There is a desperate need for us to take youth work seriously - not as a passing fad that people do enroute to adulthood - or until they are able to find 'real' jobs, but as a calling, a ministry, a life-long vocation that requires both the ingenuity and idealism of young adulthood, but also the commitment and refined wisdom of those who are older.

I always think of the veteran youth worker, Dean Borgman (from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary), who has remained a committed youth worker all of his life. Take a look at his picture: you will see no tattoos, no body piercings, no fancy clothes or glasses, but his knowledge and experience of youth work is incredibly sophisticated. A person would be a fool not to tap into the long-term wisdom that has come from his years on this frontline ministry.

Another great example in The Salvation Army is Lynell Johnson - who writes the Hopeshare curriculum. Whenever I interact with Lynell, I am always amazed at the passion, knowledge and commitment that comes from years of serving the Lord through children and youth work.

I also can't help but think about who taught me Sunday School when I was a kid. Often it was a retired school teacher and grandma who doesn't fit our modern profile of youth worker, but is someone whose ministry is both legitimate and essential as she has raised spiritual children for multiple generations...

While there are great benefits to being a youth worker in their mid-twenties, there are equally great assets to be gained from a... 'well-seasoned' youth worker. I think that it's about time that we broaden our horizons to what we understand this responsibility to be. Otherwise, the profession of youth work will continue to be perceived of as the Mickey Mouse training ground for bigger and better things... I don't mean to suggest that we see fifty-five year olds becoming teenage 'fakesters' dressed up like wolves in sheeps clothing... rather, that we don't reduce our definition of youth work down to something that expires after its' best before date...

My hope and prayer is that we begin to see more and more people who consider youth work their calling - rather than being a stepping stone to something bigger and better, that they perceive it as a bedrock on which they can build meaningful and transformational ministry with children and youth for a lifetime.