Spring 1999, Vol. X, no.2:

Is Youth Ministry a Vocational Career or a Sacred Calling?, Mark A. Lamport;

Special Report: Results of ETA's Constituency Research, Part Two, Jonathan N. Thigpen; 

Adults to Become Active Participants in Sunday School, Thomas Hutchison

 by Mark A. Lamport, Ph.D.

According to the New Parish Ministers study (conducted by the National Pastoral Life Center), youth ministers have the shortest occupational life span among all parish ministers: "over one-third stay in the field one year or less. Even when remaining in the profession, youth ministers may rank just behind migrant workers in length of time in one place". 1

A startling thought, isn’t it? It makes me ask, "Why?" But then again, I think I might know!

Although one’s call should be the solitary basis for entering youth ministry, one’s preparation for the profession of youth ministry has been seriously neglected.

As we can all observe, one can be called but ineffective; whereas, one can be effective, but not called. It seems both factors— receiving a call and engaging in preparation—make for the kind of person most desirous for the long-haul in the profession of youth ministry.

Ponder this analogous hypothetical question. Can you imagine those who would like to become doctors or lawyers skipping medical or law school and jumping right in to their chosen professions? Obviously, it is not allowed. Why then is it acceptable and when will circumstances prevent this short-circuiting of people into youth ministry? Yes, I realize the profession of youth minister is a fairly recent invention, but the respectability of the profession is not held in terribly lofty esteem by those who observe youth ministers, especially those with little or no training or experience. Ill-equipped youth ministers who move into jobs which require considerable understanding of ministry principles, biblical and theological foundations, people and organizational skills, and spiritual maturity, yet lack the gifts, calling, or sufficient preparation are viewed with suspicion inside and outside the Church.

Following are ten arguments I have heard in conversations about issues related to preparation for youth ministry. I will respond briefly to each.

Objection 1: It violates the sacrosanct nature of ministry giftedness.

Why do churches and parachurch organizations hire youth ministers who are clearly not prepared for the task other than their practical experience and attendance at several youth worker training seminars? Perhaps those hiring youth ministers too often settle for the person they know, or who the kids like, or who they can get away with paying less. But is the kingdom of God best served by sharper or duller instruments? Who is ultimately paying for these learn-while-you-go experiments? I would even contend the single major reason for the scandalous drop-out rate from within the profession of youth ministry is due to those who are not prepared to handle the responsibilities and pressures of ministry.

Is formal education required to be an effective minister for our Lord? Not necessarily. Is it suggested as a way to become more effective ministers for our Lord? I absolutely believe so!

Response: Granted, time is short (Psalm 39). We don’t want to waste it. But which is better—to spin your wheels in ministry for a long time and eventually stall or to take time preparing for a smooth ride with steady progress? How many graduates from ministry preparation programs resent the time or energy or money they invested preparing? Yes, there are some. But maybe the school or the student or some other circumstance is to blame, rather than the notion of education. Most youth ministers are grateful and count the knowledge gained an incontrovertible asset to their ministry.

I remain unconvinced that the mere act of becoming more educated, and therefore more effectively prepared to represent Jesus on earth, is less than important or harmful, as in some people’s eyes.

I am not saying that everyone necessarily must leave ministry to continue education. There are some valuable youth ministry degree programs or courses that can be accomplished without relocation.

I am appalled at the existing low standards of some in our country who assume positions of Christian leadership, including youth ministry. It is as though intellect and religion are viewed as uncomfortable acquaintances, and that eagerness and personality are more critical to an appointment in youth ministry. As I encounter European youth ministers, for example, there is a keener sense that they can think, read, articulate and write with an informed demeanor. This is obviously not the favorable case for many in North America.

I defy anyone to name the most significant people (in terms of effectiveness for the Kingdom, not popularity) in some arena of ministry who have not received formal ministerial education at least at the undergraduate level; in fact, many have undertaken graduate work or doctoral studies.

Oh, with regard to the question in the article’s title—the answer is "yes".

Following are some questions to pose as a means of discussion for adults with whom you work presently being trained for youth ministry:

1. Take some time to remember how you came to be involved in youth ministry. What was your experience of church during your teen years? As an adult, how did you become involved? Why?

2. Consider all the different tasks and roles that constitute your position. List the top ten skills you use in your ministry. Rate yourself on the skills you deem your strongest and weakest, then on skills most frequently used and most difficult to use. Identify some of the skills you would like to develop.

3. What aspect of youth ministry do you need to know more about? What is one practical thing you could do to further your sense of professionalism in youth ministry?

4. Which of the following factors have the greatest positive effect on your longevity in youth ministry? The greatest negative effect?

Adult team
Expectations
Funding
Parents
Staff
Vision
Resources
Youth
Senior Pastor
Other

5. What ministry skill would enhance your survival, if you were to develop it more fully?

6. What are the obstacles that most hinder your spiritual health? What practical strategies do you follow for cultivating your spiritual health?

Notes

1. Philip J. Murnion et al., New Parish Ministers, New York: National Pastoral Life Center, 1992, 52, cited in Robert J. McCarty, Survival in Youth Ministry, Winona, MN: Saint Mary’s Press, 1994, 7.

The Author

When reading a map, two points of reference are necessary: where you are and where you want to go. Once those two points are established, the only remaining issue to decide is how to get from point A to point B. Organizational strategic planning is much like reading a map. An organization must envision where it wants to go (its mission), discover where it is (its current situation), and determine how it is going to get there (programs and services).

The board of directors of Evangelical Training Association began such a strategic planning process in April 1997. The ETA board instructed me and our staff to thoroughly investigate where we were as an organization from the perspective of our various constituency groups. The findings were to be reported to the board at its annual meeting in April 1998. It was determined to divide ETA’s constituency into two main divisions: ETA members schools and the churches that use ETA programs and materials. The Fall issue of JAT contained the summary of research done with member schools. This article focuses on the survey results from churches.1

Next, survey instruments were developed to provide the data requested by the board. In addition to demographic issues, the board wanted to gain feedback on ETA’s past effectiveness as well as insight into current needs to help guide us in program and curriculum development. We wanted to answer these main questions: What is the demographic profile of the churches ETA serves? What kind of teacher/leadership training programs are churches providing? What does ETA need to improve? What new services should ETA offer? What additional subjects should be added to ETA’s adult education curriculum?

The Survey Design

The ETA management team decided to survey three segments of the church market:

1) Active ETA Customers (AC)—A random sample of churches who had purchased materials within the previous 24 months.

2) Former ETA Customers (FC)—A random sample of churches who had last purchased ETA materials over two years ago.

3) Evangelical Churches (EC)—A random sample of the approximately 200,000 evangelical churches in the U.S.

Survey forms were mailed to these three groups in January 1998 offering a free book for responding to the survey as an incentive. A total of 561 surveys were mailed to Active ETA Customers (sample from a total of 2,244); 488 were mailed to Former ETA Customers (sample from a total of 1,943); and 2,000 were mailed to evangelical churches (random sample from the master church list of Tri-Media Marketing Services.

Response to the survey was good. The highest response rate, not surprisingly, was from Active ETA Customers (128 of 568/23% response rate) with the Former ETA Customers (67 of 488/14% response rate) and Evangelical Churches (176 of 2,000/9% response rate) following not far behind.

Church Demographics Compared

One of the major purposes of this study was to determine the profile of the "average" ETA customer and compare that profile with those of Former ETA customers and the evangelical church at large. Questions asked of each group were: the size of Sunday morning worship, church location, area population, denominational affiliation, and dominant worship style.

ETA has always been a "niche" ministry. Since its inception in 1930, ETA has focused on providing programs and materials to be used in the equipping and training of adults. Although interdenominational in scope and international in distribution, ETA has never aimed to expand its ministry beyond this niche and thus ETA has not tried to be all things to all churches. ETA has known its appeal is limited to certain types of churches in need of what it offers.

The picture emerging from the above data is that the average church purchasing from ETA:

• Sunday Morning Worship Attendance between 100 to 250
• Considers itself either an inner-city or suburban church located in a city from 5,000 to 500,000 in population
• Is probably either Baptist of some type or independent/non-denominational in affiliation
• Is either evangelical/traditional in its worship, practices a variety of worship styles or features blended worship
• 40% of churches using ETA materials are predominantly non-white in racial make-up

It certainly makes sense that small to medium sized churches, with fewer specialized staff members, would utilize what ETA offers more than larger churches with more staff resources. ETA churches are predominantly conservative in their worship styles. Perhaps the most significant finding is the high percentage of predominantly African-American congregations and other minority congregations which use ETA materials. This has not been due to marketing efforts directed to those churches but rather that ETA programs and materials are a particularly good fit with the needs present in those churches.

Christian Education Ministries

Several survey items related to Christian Education.

According to the survey, Sunday School may be losing some ground (between 5% and 9% of responding churches do not have a Sunday School for every age) but it clearly remains in first place among C.E. ministries. It was no surprise youth and children’s ministry were close behind Sunday School in popularity. I conclude the face of C.E. is undergoing change, but the teaching ministry of the church, whether it is called Sunday School or something else, will continue to exist. There will always be a need for trained teachers and workers as long as there are churches.

Christian Education Staff

The survey asked one question relating to church staffing.

The survey revealed the more C.E. staff a church has the less likely it is to utilize ETA programs and materials. This certainly fits what we had hypothesized. It makes sense that paid church C.E. will tend to develop their own materials for training and equipping rather than purchase pre-packaged materials from ETA or another source.

The data also revealed the dominant C.E. staff position is in youth ministry with children’s ministry staff not far behind. This certainly fits the common assumption that C.E. ministry has moved into specialization rather than generalization in terms of staff responsibility.

Teacher/Leadership Training

Several questions were asked relating specifically to how, when and why Teacher/Leadership training takes place in the church.