The Youth Pastor: An Endangered Species

There’s a Post-It note that sits on my desk right now that has the names of seven churches on it. These churches are all very different: they’re from different parts of the country, different denominations and different church sizes from mega church to normative size. Yet, there is one thing they have in common.

They cannot find someone to fill their vacant youth pastor role.

This is not a relatively new problem in the American church. Now that I have been in evangelism and speaking for 5 years, I have seen this trend carry through this whole time. Churches are looking for candidates to fill these ministry roles but are coming up empty. A couple of these churches are more than a year into their search without finding a candidate that suits their needs.

So what gives? Why did the youth pastor suddenly become an endangered species? From my 13 years as a youth pastor and from conversations I have with current youth pastors these days, there is not a single reason as to why the youth ministry landscape has changed drastically in the last decade. Yet, there are a number of factors that are converging at once to create this vacuum of youth pastor candidates. Let’s look at a few.

Pay and benefits

This is far and away the biggest issue at hand. Ministry is not exactly a lucrative world to step into, but the youth pastor sits squarely on the bottom rung of the ministry pay scale. According to a church salary study conducted by the church management software company Tithe.ly, the Youth Pastor position comes in dead last of the common ministry positions we see in American churches, falling behind roles like Business Administrator and Facilities Manager.

In my last year in youth ministry I served in a church that had 9 full-time staff and I had the lowest compensation on staff with no benefits, even though I had more ministry experience than everyone on staff apart from our Senior Pastor. Combine the low pay with the fact that most youth ministry candidates are young marrieds who are looking to start a family – it makes total sense why guys are looking elsewhere.

Unrealistic church expectations

Most youth ministry openings want a candidate with prior youth pastor experience (3 plus years), almost every opening desires a Bachelor’s degree in Student Ministry if not an M.Div. I have even interacted with two churches over the last five years that wanted their youth pastor to have some sort of Doctoral degree. Marry those qualifications with the unspoken rule that the youth pastor’s wife must be heavily involved in the ministry while her husband invests 50+ hours weekly to the ministry, there’s a very small pool of families willing to take on that sort of stress for the pay.

Lack of respect

Every youth pastor will eventually hear the infamous question from a passerby – “When are you going to become a real pastor?” The backdrop of that question is the cultural assumption that youth ministry is nothing but kickball, pizza parties and summer camps. What isn’t seen in view of that question is the hours of sermon prep, the nights of crisis counseling and effort that a youth pastor puts in to help the other ministries in the church. While most churches want the characteristics of a church elder in their youth pastor – above reproach, lover of good, self-controlled, upright, able to give instruction in sound doctrine – they will rarely recognize him or treat him as such.

The landscape of ministry has changed

While the essence of youth ministry carries its own challenges, the landscape of the American church has changed to such a degree that it has changed the dynamics of youth ministry as we know it. In the 90s and early 2000s, youth ministry was viewed at the “stepping stone” ministry. Guys who were too young to be a senior pastor would gain experience in youth ministry to work their way towards the pastorate. That has honestly changed for the better in the last decade. Many young guys who have their eyes on being a senior pastor will take part in many of the intern or ministry residency programs that exist nationwide or they embark on planting a church after their degree.

In 2022, the fastest growing ministry position in the US is that of Family Pastor –  a position that oversees and streamlines discipleship from pre-k to high school grads. Family Pastors can give general vision and leadership for what we once defined as both Children’s and Youth Ministry, enabling the day to day ministry to be handled by a volunteer or part-time employee. The church as a whole has started to pivot away from what we once knew as student ministry.

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The dynamics of youth ministry are changing and will continue to do so. Will the role of youth pastor continue on for the years to come? I am not entirely certain. For Gen Z to be reached with the gospel, the church must continue to seek clarity of both the expectations and the role that spiritual leadership has in the lives of students. One thing is certain – if the church continues to press forward unchanged the now endangered species of student pastor will altogether be extinct.