If you are a Youth leader you must remember this statement from when it was made famous. Still, if you are in Youth leadership you must wonder at the truth to this. I have only been doing this a little while, but I've noticed that my Jr. High and Senior High kids just don't get along. I've talked with other Youth leaders and this appears to be fairly universal. I wish I had an answer to solve this issue, especially for smaller groups that can't easily have a Jr. High service and a Sr. High service. Right now I'm on the edge of being able to have separate services, and that is a problem in and of itself. It turns out that Sr. High Youth don't care for the Jr. High Youth, but the Jr. High Youth really want to be with the Sr. High Youth. They hate to be put into their own service. I think if it were always 2 different groups, then it wouldn't be so bad, but they have waited to get into Youth and now I am saying that they are only halfway in Youth. The thing I find funniest about the whole thing is talking with the Sr. High kids about why they don't like the Jr. High kids around results in the answer, "they are so immature." When confronted with the idea that they were once the same the response is, "I was never like that." Of course, I also work with Young Adults and I can talk with them about my Sr. High Youth and get the real dirt. Yes, indeed the Young Adults always resented those immature kids coming into Youth and ruining all the super mature fun they were having. If you have worked with Youth and eg is talking with the Sr. High kids about why they don't like the Jr. High kids around results in the answer, "they are so immature." When confronted with the idea that they were once the same the response is, "I was never like that." Of course, I also work with Young Adults and I can talk with them about my Sr. High Youth and get the real dirt. Yes, indeed the Young Adults always resented those immature kids coming into Youth and ruining all the super mature fun they were having. If you have worked with Youth and experienced this I'd love to hear how you tried to overcome. Logic and reason have no effect whatsoever, and neither does random acts of sarcasm. Those are my two go to tools, so I'm kind of at a loss.
Monday, August 18, 2008
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6 comments:
Youth.... Tough call. haha. They are always a struggle to work with. We help out with the youth at our church and even kind of ran it for a while. There is one older kid right now who is really doing awesome with being kind to the younger kids. His actions spur most of the youth to get along. We have a smaller group, under 20, but they are really starting to do a great job. I think that personal discipleship has really helped. Being personal with them and asking them to help out, although it kind of sounds like you already did that.
Well, good luck with it. I hope it works out. Let me know if you would like any ideas on discipling.
david,
I'm always open to ideas on discipleship. I'll be writing a blog on it later, but the short version is this: Most Christians are aware on some level that Jesus' last command is "Go into all the world preaching the good news and baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." What people seem to completely miss is the rest of the command which says, "and teach them to obey all that I have commanded." This is discipleship, and without proper discipleship the church fails.
Nick,
I'm commenting here in response to your comment on the SCL post re: accountability. As a pastor, I can understand the fishbowl and the difficulty in being transparent with your church - especially youth. I agree with some of the others who mentioned that accountability is best done in person. However, if you want someone anonymous and a little knowledgable about church work, that you can vent to or ask questions, please feel free to email me at an old address of mine shangri_labdm@yahoo.com When you read this comment, please do not forward my email.
Praying for you
Just stumbled on your site tonight. Really enjoying the read and looking forward to more! I've been in youth min full time for just under 5 months now and it's refreshing to not feel so alone... to know there are other (somewhat) newbees out there that are having the same thoughts I am.
eastern ky pastor,
I might just take you up on that offer. I am in the process of getting a website together to help people in areas of accountability. I am not 100% sure how the whole thing will end up looking in the end, but I'm hoping to have opem forums, private forums, and a way to meet with local accountability partners. The last part might take a while to get into place since I think background checks and such might be in order for random meetings, but I could probably use the site to setup small group meetings early on and let people get into an accountability relationship in person through those groups.
julie,
thanks for commenting. I am hoping that this blog will develop into a community for Youth ministers. I'd like to address some difficult issues that I am facing and get input on how to work through those issues. I believe that I'm not alone in these issues, so I believe others such as you and me will be helped though interacting with more experienced youth ministers.
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