Josh Vincent on Youth Ministry

Josh Vincent, who blogs at Visions from the Vincents, has a great post on youth ministry. Josh has thought out the relationship between youth ministry and the local church and shares some of those thoughts on his blog. Among the excellent points, are 8 things youth ministry (YM) and youth pastors (YP) should avoid.

1. The YM is not a para-church organization working alongside or with the local church.

2. The YM is not separate from the congregation like a second church that shares a building. Although as many youth as will come are welcome, a youth cannot be a members of the YM without being a member of the church.

3. The YM should not practice ordinances apart from the rest of the Church.

4. The YM should not ordinarily grow in a manner disproportionate to the church congregation. This is not to say that you want to stunt spiritual or numerical growth, but it is to say that this shouldn't be the goal of youth ministry.

5. The YM should not be an environment all together different from the church collectively. The YM shouldn't see itself as a place where they can do all the things the older, boring adults will not allow them to do such as play the music they prefer. Though they may play different music and sing different songs, it shouldn't be viewed as though relevance is equivalent to value before God.

6. The YM should not meet separately from the church during regularly scheduled meetings (i.e. Sunday morning, Sunday night, etc.)

7. The YP is not a substitute for the Pastor(s) of the church; he is a fully acknowledged pastor (this is an ideal or goal but perhaps not always possible).

8. The YP is not ordinarily a substitute for the spiritual role of the parents of the youth. Some spiritual orphans do need this though."

I suggest you read the whole post, which can be done here.
Josh has a great passion for seeing God glorified in the local church so read his blog often.