9 March 2013
For the past 12 years I have stood before this convention and reported to you that youth ministry is strong and vibrant in the Diocese of South Carolina. In recent years I shared with you about the development of an apprentice program that trained youth ministers who are now serving here and elsewhere. I spoke last year on our Ireland partnership. You heard from some of the Irish on the impact our relationship has had on their faith. You heard last year from another diocese on the impact we have had on others simply by setting the pace for youth ministry. By God’s grace I can confidently tell you that we are setting the pace for youth ministry across North American Anglicanism. We have youth ministries innovating in ways that are reaching and impacting student’s lives because of youth ministers willing to be creative and abandon old paradigms that were no longer effective. Today I would like to call us to go a step further. Take a look at this short video clip made by another denomination. (the video was created a few years ago by the Church of the Nazarene. I edited it slightly to eliminate denominational references and shorten it overall)
While we have been thrilled to have a large number of parishes with professional youth ministers and thriving youth groups, the reality is that roughly half our churches are doing little to no youth ministry. These churches are simply too small to afford a paid youth minister. We have churches in this diocese that once had a full time youth minister but are not longer able to afford that. Historically we had not effectively figured out a way to make youth ministry happen in smaller churches. Over the years I’ve met with many clergy and vestries to discuss a way forward but what we sought to implement was a model that is unsustainable for small parishes. Over the past year we have figured out a way to help all churches regardless of size learn how to minister to teens. I taught this new model at The Anglican 1000 Church planting Summit a year ago and again this past week. I have shared it with our youth ministers and led a workshop on it yesterday. The simplicity of it has actually encouraged some of the innovative youth ministry strategies I mentioned a few minutes ago. Simple sustainable youth ministry is about people not programs. It is centered on building relationships and opening scripture and seeks to integrate teens into the life of the church rather than relegate them to a youth room. It is time for all our churches to engage in youth ministry. We cannot afford to lose a generation like has happened in other countries already. The next generations are our responsibility.
There is more though. We have an incredibly talented pool of youth ministers in our diocese. I am honored to be able to work with them. They have been called by God to minister to teens. I have been privileged to be able to walk alongside many of them as they wrestled with a calling to youth ministry, sought the training needed and settled into churches where many of them have served for a good long while. However, it becomes difficult to be a full time youth minister and responsibly raise a family when a church does not provide benefits (in many instances breaking state employment laws) and the youth minister has to find other means to cover medical bills or create a retirement fund. We have salaried youth ministers in their twenties, thirties, forties, fifties, and even sixties! These men and women are first responders when it comes to suicides, pregnancies, broken families, addictions, and depression all while preparing several weekly Bible teachings, meetings, programs, and constantly proclaiming the gospel to teens. They love the work they do – as difficult as it is at times. Many have remained in positions that have not seen pay rises in 5 or more years while the cost of living goes up every year. Most of them have the gifts needed to enter the ordained ministry where they would have a pension and benefits and a salary that rises and respect. We are not only in danger of losing our youth; we are in serious danger of losing our youth ministers. Some of them will move on one day to become a priest but that is not the goal of our youth ministers. Anyone who approaches me seeking a youth ministry job in this diocese that sees youth ministry as a stepping-stone to the priesthood is sent elsewhere. God calls and equips men and women to minister to students. They are passionate gifted teachers, communicators, leaders, and pastors who happen to serve in a lay ministry. Let’s recognize the incredible blessing that we have!
It is time that all our churches engage in youth ministry! The next generation is not just the future of the church they are the church of today! They need to hear the gospel! They need to know Jesus! They need people in the church to love them. We have a plan that we can implement in any congregation and I will come and meet with all church leaders who want to pursue that.
It is time that we fully support all our current youth ministers and appreciate them as the lay ministers, leaders, teachers, and pastors that they are. Youth ministry is strong in this diocese because of them. We continue to set the pace for youth ministry in North American Anglicanism because of the work & legacy of these men and women.
On behalf of all those in this diocese who work with teenagers, I thank you for your continued support!
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