Oh no! Is that the youth pastor heading up to the pulpit?
You have worked really hard to invite your neighbors to church. Your neighbor does not know Jesus but is curious and is spiritually seeking. You’ve invited them to Easter, Christmas Eve, even the time you had a solo in that morning’s special music. They never came.
Finally, one day, they agree to attend worship service with you. How exciting! You get to the sanctuary early to save them seats. As you wait for them, you peruse that morning’s bulletin. Oh no! Your pastor, the one who good-naturedly preaches God’s word faithfully and capably every Sunday, is on vacation. The “youth guy” is preaching.
Is That a Bad Thing?
At this point in Brandon Cooper’s article at The Gospel Coalition, this news is treated as an utter tragedy. The eternal fate of your neighbors might be in the hands of some fresh-faced kid right out of seminary?! The horror!
I’m sure Cooper meant well, but my goodness is his article just…the worst. It’s condescending and insulting. He frames allowing the youth guy to preach as a way of preparing future leaders. We have to develop good leaders so we have to let the young guys get a few reps in the pulpit so the work continues right? So we sacrifice a little in the present to prepare for the future. Ugh.
Most egregiously, Cooper’s second point in favor of letting youth pastors have a chance to preach is that we trust in God’s sovereignty. No joke! He writes,
God knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10). He knows exactly when your neighbor will attend a service, and he knows who’ll be preaching that day. Nothing can thwart his plans. Yes, we act wisely—by having a young leader preach sermons to staff first, so they can make suggestions—but we do so with confidence God is in control.
Don’t worry that your youth pastor is preaching that Sunday, God is in control, and he can accomplish his purposes no matter how terrible your youth pastor is at preaching. I’m pretty sure that is the implication of Cooper’s writing here. He may not see it, but that’s how I read it.
A Youth Pastor is Called and Gifted
Cooper forgets or ignores several realities about youth pastors in his article.
- Youth pastors are just as called to ministry as senior pastors. Part of their calling is to preach the Gospel to youth. They are trained, yes, but they are also gifted for the ministry of preaching.
- Youth pastors sometimes make better preachers than other pastors. Youth pastors have to explain the Gospel and explain technical and detailed doctrines of the faith to teenagers in a way that they can understand. They are experts at contextualizing the truth of Scripture for a young audience. They are experts at breaking down difficult theology into statements that young people can understand, using language with which they can relate. They do this multiple times a week, something a senior pastor does not have to do as often.
- Not all youth pastors are young, fresh-faced kids straight out of Bible college. In fact, I have argued that the church should have older youth pastors who share their life experience with young people and be a solid, non-anxious presence in their lives.
- Youth pastors are not apprentices. They are not working their way up a ladder so that they can be a “real pastor.” I hated being asked, “when are you going to be a real pastor” during my youth ministry days. Michael Bird does a great job discussing this point, here. Youth pastors are not apprentices or junior associates climbing the ecclesiastical ladder. They are specialists, like a pediatrician is a specialist. Nobody ever asks pediatricians when they are going to become a real doctor. Nobody should ask youth pastors when they are going to be a real pastor. They are a pastor. They just specialize in working with teenagers.
Youth Pastor is a Difficult Role
Most youth pastors are educated in teaching and preaching, whether at the college level or in seminary. They are called and gifted for ministry. We shouldn’t be so condescending to think that allowing them to preach is like giving the rookie on the basketball a few minutes of playing time at the end of the game. It’s what they are called to do; it’s just that most of the time, they do so to teenagers.
I like to joke that I became a senior pastor because I couldn’t hack it in youth ministry anymore. Youth pastors have a difficult role, perhaps the most difficult role in the church (in close competition with the worship and music pastor, whose job I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole). They are worthy of respect as ministers of the Gospel called and gifted by God for special service in the church.
What to Do when the Youth Pastor is Preaching
So should you ever invite your neighbors to church on a Sunday that your youth guy is preaching, instead of panicking, instead of bemoaning your unfortunate timing, look at the upside. Your unchurched neighbors are going to be hearing Scripture preached by an expert in explaining Scriptural truths in simple and understandable ways. Your unchurched neighbors are going to be seeing how much your church values your young people. Your unchurched neighbors just might connect better with the youth guy than the senior pastor.
Encourage your youth pastor in his or her gifts. Allow them to use them to serve the whole church every once in a while. Understand that they are specialists in ministry but are just as called to ministry as the generalists. And don’t ask them when they are going to become a “real pastor.” They already are.
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