Can you help us find a job description for a full-time youth pastor and volunteer member of our team?
Unfortunately, we can’t provide a full job description on this page, but here are a few pointers:
For a youth leader or minister, writing the job description is a great chance to discuss and explore your vision for the youth work. Discuss your dreams as a team – what your youth work would ideally be and achieve. Draw up your job description and expectations from that, as that way you’ll be setting the person up in line with the vision you have for their work.
For volunteers, host a meeting with the team to discuss the expectations you have of each other, and of your youth ministry. That way you can share your expectations, mould them as a team and shape the job description around the wisdom from the volunteers, as well as finding your own practice challenged and renewed.
What advice do you have for young people managing anxiety? Can you recommend any resources?
We thought we’d run this one past a knowledgeable friend of ours, Rachael Costa, who is the founder of mental health charity Think Twice:
‘Anxiety can be really difficult to deal with, and the first thing is to encourage them to talk about it! Whether it is with a parent or youth worker - putting worries and fears into words can help make them more manageable. It’s also important for them to get advice from their GP if it’s beginning to interfere with enjoying life. Younger teens might find books like Starving the Anxiety Gremlin a useful tool to work through. Others find it helpful to log onto sites such as YoungMinds and read stories about other young people’s anxiety, because it prevents them from feeling isolated. Finally, a really simple way to try and manage anxiety, particularly if it is affecting sleep, is to keep a notebook and write in it before bed to stop the worries flying around all night!’
I’m trying to write a proposal for the use of social media with my youth group at a traditional church which is fairly internet-phobic. Where can I find guidelines?
We asked experts in the field, CCPAS, to help us with this one:
‘Once upon a time, communication within churches was by word of mouth, telephone and the noticeboard. All of this has changed, now that much of our communication happens outside regular youth meetings, whether by text messages, tweets, or other social media. Mobile phones now offer instant videos and photographs, some of which (like Snapchat) are time-limited. Churches need to both recognise this new environment and set very clear boundaries as to what is expected of workers when communicating with their young people, both on and off-line.
Many guidelines exist on the safe use of social media. It doesn’t really matter if your church is full of social media experts or is internet-phobic, as guidelines should focus on safe practice in communicating with and between young people. CCPAS is a leading authority in this area, a partner agency with CEOP, and can help devise very effective social media protocols. These policies should include communication between workers and young people in the church and – just as importantly - between young people themselves. An excellent resource is CEOP’s ThinkUKnow campaign which has advice for young people, parents and youth workers.’
When is it time to move on from my current youth work post? How long should a youth worker stay in post?
The answer to the second part of that question is simple – as long as possible. The latest statistics suggest that the average time a youth worker stays in post for is just 18 months. We’re not fools; we know that circumstances and employers can make the decision for you, but there is no rule for the ‘right time’ to leave. In fact, we’d urge you to stay until it’s obvious when to leave. Pray about it, seek God’s will, but unless he’s telling you to move on – why leave?
On a practical level, youth work is grounded in relationships and these take time to develop, to grow, to thrive. On top of this, the adolescent years are full of turbulence, and for many of our young people, it’s a time of instability. As youth workers we’re blessed with the opportunity to provide stability, to model the unchanging steadfastness of God’s love purely by sticking around. Of course there will (probably) be a time to leave – the job may become unsustainable, your circumstances unmanageable – but don’t look for these, don’t search for your excuses.
So stick around, don’t plan an escape route the moment you arrive, don’t count off the days until you graduate to ‘real’ adult ministry. Youth ministry is a glorious calling - treasure it, honour it and stay.
Quickfire
What are the ethical issues involved with using real hair as extensions?
We have a clear rule: don’t steal people’s hair to use as your own. But you’d need to do some research for individual suppliers - they should be able to tell you where the hair came from.
What do you like on sandwiches?
Meat and spread. That just about covers it.
What impact do violent video games have on young people?
The more important question is ‘what are the influences on our young people?’ Video games may be one of them, but so are what they see on the news and the fear of walking the streets at night.
Would you rather fight ten duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck?
Here at Youthwork we are lovers not fighters. We’d run away from a confrontation with either.
