Obituary for the Youth Pastor
here’s a fun, obviously tongue-in-cheek article today, written by a senior pastor whose church is searching for a youth pastor. If interested, you can learn more about that job opening here.
We are gathered here today to say goodbye to the Youth Pastor, or YP for short. I was as surprised as you to find that the YP is no more. When our church began our search for a new YP we assumed that such a person was still with us and plentiful. However, after weeks of searching with little interest I am left to conclude that the YP is dead. Thus, I eulogize.
We have many memories to be grateful for. The YP gave us incredible worship experiences. We sang songs with sparse instrumentation, and maybe a few too many motions. Lyrics were on a screen via an overhead projector that was louder than a helicopter and emitted as much heat as the earth’s core. The song lyrics were revealed progressively as an eager seventh grader pulled down the cover sheet line by line. We sang “10,000 Reasons” nearly 10,000 times.
The YP gave us meeting spaces decorated like a fraternity’s estate sale. So many used gross wood-trimmed couches. A four-inch tall platform called a stage. Framed t-shirts hanging unlevel on the walls, as testimonies to events that had better themes than content. Posters on the bulletin board offering Christian alternatives to secular musicians; “If you like Eminem you’ll love KJ-52!” Also painted on the wall, sort of, was our youth group’s cool name with an unnecessary “X” or “Z” smooshed into a word. But the painting has only been half-finished for years and there’s no point in finishing it now.
The YP gave us memorable teaching. The messages were Biblical. They were unrefined. Sometimes too long. Sometimes overly emotional. Sometimes too much alliteration. Sometimes mildly inappropriate. Always passionate. Always sincere. The YP stood in front of us week after week, a wild Yaconellian giant, calling us to Jesus. We loved it. We loved all of it. We met God in that wood-paneled holy of holies.
But now the YP is no more and the reasons are many. First, the YP was suffocated by church planting. Second, the YP was euthanized by some who said the YP should not exist to begin with. Third, some say the YP is not dead, but has migrated almost exclusively to the Bible belt. Fourth, the YP was phased out of church budgets because of economy/recession/eggs/politics/pandemic/reasons. The bottom line is this; the YP is dead, and we are the killers.
Though we say goodbye today, I still hold hope of a new day when the YP rises once again. The need is greater than ever. The parents of our teens need an ally, supporter, co-laborer, encourager, prayer warrior. And what of our teens? Shall we leave them to be discipled into Hell by TikTok? Will the church pour resources into them in their childhood only to abandon them in their adolescence? Will grown-ups lament the state of this generation while refusing to finance a leader to fight for their souls?
Since the old YP is dead we need a new YP. We need more Youth Pastors, well-educated Youth Pastors, better resourced Youth Pastors, Biblically grounded Youth Pastors, financially stable Youth Pastors, get-your-tush-out-of-the-Bible-belt Youth Pastors. And if you’re interested in applying for our job, I’ll be glad to discuss the position with you at the reception following this service, where we’ll have pizza and Mt. Dew and KJ-52.