"[God] gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service."
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."
Youth ministry should be a "supplement" to a young person's life, not their whole life. It is the parents' God-given responsibility to raise and nurture their child in the way of the Lord. And I, as a Pastor, should act as an aid to the parents, not a replacement.
Part of my job as the youth is to facilitate the parent/teen realtionship and equip both parent and teenager to communicate more easily with one another - and to learn to pursue spiritual matters as a family as a part of their day-to-day life at home.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Youth ministry should be for making disciples, not making kids busy. It's a common misconception to think that if the kids are busy in church that they are being taken care of. This is a dangerous thought. If a teenager is filled with nothing more than sugar and gets no more than a hardy pat on the back when they enter the church doors for four years of their high school career, then they will leave the ministry no more grounded than when they came in. And statistics have shown that 80% of young adults drop out of church after graduation.
Question: So, what do we do? How do we supplement teens' lives without making them too busy or without stripping their parents of their responsibilities? How do we challenge young people to grow and be rooted deep in God's word so they will not be blown here or there by every wind of false teaching?
If young people are fulfilling those 5 things in their lives while in the youth ministry, they are going to grow to full maturity of faith and they when they graduate they won't be graduating from the youth ministry, but rather graduating onto the greater calling God has planned for the rest of their lives!