The Myth of the Perfect Youth Pastor

Over at the Random Thoughts From a Random Man blog, there are a series of terrific postings about the myth of the perfect youth pastor. Anyone who has spent any extended amount of time in youth minstry will certainly relate with each of these myths in some way or another.

Myth #1 The perfect youth pastor must be between 22 and 35 years old in order to relate to youth.

Myth #2 The perfect youth pastor must be a dynamic, entertaining speaker.

Myth #3 The perfect youth pastor relates well with every student.

Myth #4 The perfect youth pastor is married and his wife is actively involved in the youth ministry.

Myth #5 The perfect youth pastor must be “cool” in order to relate well to teens.

Myth #6 A perfect youth pastor needs to have events every month for the students while attending all other church-wide functions.

Myth #7 The perfect youth pastor must be able to coordinate babysitting for all other ministries in the church.

Myth #8 The perfect youth pastor must be willing to help anyone who stops by the office no matter how busy they are with their own work.

Myth # 9 The perfect youth pastor must be willing to live off the smallest salary, work in the smallest office and work with the smallest budget in the church all while believing what the people of the church tell them that “the youth ministry is very important to us."

Myth #10 The Perfect Youth Pastor’s ministry will grow numerically even though the church as a whole won’t change and never grows.

Myth #11 A perfect youth pastor will take responsibility for the failures and mistakes of every student in the youth ministry.

Myth #12 The Perfect Youth Pastor will make the teens visible to the church at large and get them involved with the Sunday morning worship service but will not attempt to change the culture of said church.

HT: Random Thoughts