When Should You Higher a Youth Worker?

So your church is thinking about hiring a youth worker? Except you’re wondering when the best time would be to do this.

Here are some helpful hiring tips that just might make this job search go a little easier.

1)“Sustainable Youth Ministry” by Mark DeVries recommends 1 full time staff person for every 50 youth who are active somewhere in the life of the church. 25 youth means a 20-hr person and so 12-13 youth would mean hiring someone for about 10 hours a week.

2)What to pay? Go to the January 2012 issue of Group Magazine and check out their latest salary survey. They provide loads of stats and variables to consider.

3)Where to post your church’s position? Simply Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry Architects and Youth Specialties have the best job boards. Of course, your denominational office is good. Colleges and seminaries are a must. Plus? There’s always Craig’s List.

4)Pick 3 non-negotiables and 1-2 “these would be great IF” qualities in a staff hire. Head towards that.

5)Don’t set the hire up for failure by holding off everything till “the new person gets here.” The youth ministry belongs to the church and so does the Youth Minister's vision and values. The person you hire should be able to match up with similar skills and purpose.

I hope that is helpful and Good luck!

Foundational Summer Priorities

Summer is rapidly approaching. Typically, for youth ministries, this means summer camps, mission trips, pool parties, etc.

Am I missing something?

It’s never easy to plan summer ministry. Family vacations and sports camps take teenagers away for weeks at a time. This shouldn’t keep you from planning weekly venues where you can connect with kids, but it should prompt you to think about where your time is best spent.

Summer can be a prime time to accomplish 3 Foundational Ministry Practices:

One-on-one Time with Students
Summer often provides the freedom in student’s calendars to just “hang out.” Use this opportunity to “hang out” with them. Let every one of your volunteers know that this is priority-one for the summer. This can be a time where your whole team of adults can invite teenagers to connect in settings that are both fun and provoke face-to-face conversation. Isn’t you atat ministry is all about?

Recruiting Adult Volunteers
Conducting ministry with Young People takes a team approach. If you do not have other adult volunteers helping you, then that should be your top priority this summer. It’s a simple fact: it would be much easier to put adult mentors in one-on-one situations with teenagers if you actually had more adult mentors. Summer is a great time to recruit workers for the harvest (Matthew 9: 37,38). How? Simple. Just give them a taste of ministry. Invite potential adult volunteers to accompany you as you make one-on-one connections with your Young People. Once they get a taste of what all is involved you’d be surprised how easy it is to get them to commit to a year of working with you.

Gathering Student Leaders
As you are spending time with your students during the summer, keep an eye open for the students that   are ready to use their gifts and do ministry. This will probably be a small group, may be even 1 or 2 students that you identify, but that is okay. Not everyone is called to be a leader and to do ministry. While we might offer opportunities for all students to serve, identifying student leaders who will take seriously the responsibility of leadership is something very different. If we look to the example of Jesus we can see this time and time again. Serving helps people temporarily. Ministry allows God to work through us and make a difference for eternity.