Tuesday, April 15, 2008

....Or Current Youth Pastor

It is unfortunate that on most of the mail that I receive at the church, after my name is the little 4 word caveat ....Or Current Youth Pastor. Sometimes I wonder why so many churches may have problems keeping youth pastors. There are tons of reasons and I don't want to name any of them, but come on, is it really to the point where we (youth pastors) are on such a revolving door, pick and choose kind of mentality? Someone in fact asked me this week, "so have you had the '2 year, do we like it' talk about being at church?'" That was a fine question to ask, but IS that a common question to ask? If it is, I didn't know it. So if I or anyone else doesn't like their job or location after 2 years do we bail? I sure hope not. And is ministry tough? Yes, because people are tough and when a job concerns people, which most do on some levels, the job is going to be messy sometimes and it may not always be enjoyable.

I pray that loyalty will run rampant through the veins of me and my fellow ministers in the Church of Jesus Christ, and that loyalty runs to Christ, not to a denomination, a pastor, a group of people or a sweet action student ministry facility.

Yes, there are reasons to leave (some good, some bad), but I hope we can do away with some of the ....Or Current Youth Pastor stuff in our mailbox.

No comments: