Why Youth Pastors are Planting Churches

I used to say publically that I was not using youth ministry as a stepping stone and that I was called to be a youth pastor for life.  Part one of that statement was true. 

I was perfectly content to be a youth pastor, as I had been for the previous dozen years or so.  Youth ministry was comfortable to me, I was good at it, and I felt like I could do it with my eyes closed.  But God yanked me out of my comfort zone and set me up to start a new church, a task which I knew little about.

As I've shifted from the youth ministry culture to the church planting culture, I noticed several of my friends doing the same thing.  I offer several general reasons why that is happening, aside from the esoteric "God called me" reason.

1. Youth pastors don't have much freedom in ministry.  Many are forced to fit into a pre-determined paradigm that stifles their creativity.
2. They don't get much support in ministry.  Too many youth pastors don't get appropriate back up when attacked by parents, committees or church members.
3. They have too much support in ministry.  I've seen pastors try to be youth pastor through someone.
4. Their vision gets bigger.  This was a big reason for me.  I found myself being concerned with what was happening in the main service or in the children's ministry.  I started reading books on the entire church and not just youth ministry.  I was checking out church conferences, not just attending Youth Specialties. 
5. They can't feed their family.  I worked in an environment where I was told that the churches goal was to always bring me UP to what a public school teacher made, but it would take time.  Too many youth pastors are expected to suffer for Jesus because of the calling and the kids, while the choir directors and associate pastors are out shopping for new minivans.
6. The youth ministry philosophy and the church philosophy didn't gel.  I worked in a good church where the church was growing and the youth ministry was growing...just in different ways.  What is effective may not be healthy.  A youth ministry (or any other ministry for that matter) can't have a different set of core values than the overall church.  (This principle applies to organizations as well)

Any other thoughts or comments?

Comments

[Travis Thompson]

Right on, bro . . . I've been sipping some of the NorthPoint Cool-aid, and absorbing as much information as I can about churches, not just youth ministry . . . and the more I read, the more I study, the more I "grow" into this person I didn't know I could be . . . so I'm standing on the edge of this cliff, attached to a hang glider, ready to take off . . . my vision is growing and my knowledge is growing and I'm struggling with point #6, the student ministry growing differently from the church . . . Thanks for helping me not feel alone . . .

[Tia]

How do you feel about a church with no formal youth program at all? Just a "pro-family" environment that includes worhsipers of all ages in corporate worship? Do you feel like you could approprately/sucessfully minister without fragmenting the family into peer groups?

This is the evolution of our own family; for the first time we are in a church without a youth program or baby nursery. It's been incredibly blessing and cementing for us to worship as a whole. Our kids still have plenty of opprotunities to develop friendships with kids from church at our Sunday evening home fellowships and during the week as families get together. But christians of all ages worship together, and recognize each other's needs and position. It's a beautiful thing.