Dear Youth Pastor:
Help! We've had something terrible happen at our church that has caused a small dip in attendance at youth group on Sunday night. A few weeks ago, I noticed that some of our students hadn't been in attendance at youth group. I did a little investigating, and I found that some of our teenagers are helping out with our church's Sunday night kids' program that happens at the same time. Apparently, someone had seen these teenagers playing with young kids, and asked if they would enjoy serving in the children's program.
I couldn't believe that our children's minister would do such a thing! I haven't yet confronted him about it, and I was hoping you could give me a few pointers on how to deal with it.
Sincerely,
Hoarding in Helena
Hoarding:
What you have on your hands is a good old fashioned territory battle. The children's ministry is stealing your teenagers, no question. First of all, they've got enough kids in their program; I don't know why they'd be stealing yours. Second, everyone knows that the last thing teenagers need to be doing is serving somewhere other than the youth ministry. Does your children's minister really believe that a teenager can grow spiritually in a leadership position, teaching young children about Jesus?
If you don't nip this in the bud, the infection will spread. Before you know it, teenagers will be given opportunities to serve and lead all over your church: in worship, on mission trips NOT designed specifically for teenagers, and even visiting elderly church members who aren't well enough to attend church. Unthinkable. Discourage your students from serving elsewhere in your church, and try your best to make the students who have been spending time in the children's ministry feel bad about missing youth group. The more you can seem concerned for their spiritual well-being as you tell them what they've missed, the better the chance you'll have of getting them out of volunteering their time with children and back in your youth room on Sunday nights.
Best of luck, Hoarding, and remember: we're all in this together.
Sincerely,
Youth Pastor
Dear Youth Pastor is a public service to the good people who read this blog, and letters are published every Thursday. To ask Youth Pastor a question, just email him at DearYouthPastor@hotmail.com.
