Sunday, January 31, 2010
Considerations for Hiring a Youth Pastor
Ok, so I heard something over the weekend from a buddy of mine that disturbs me quite a bit. Apparently, his church is in the process of hiring a youth pastor. He is a college student in school studying pastoral ministry with a focus on youth. He has not applied for the job because of various personal reasons and reservations, but his name seems to have come up in the meetings that the search committee is holding regardless. One of the men on the committee told him that he would not be considered for the job at all because he is unmarried and they claim that they would be concerned with him falling into the temptations that come with working with young girls. Now, I know that none of you reading this know him so you're stuck taking me at my word on this, but my friend (while far from perfect) has absolutely no struggles in this area whatsoever. In fact, he is already in his second year of service as a youth group leader at his church. The man from the search committee who spoke to him sees no fault in his integrity on this point, and says that none of the other members do either. My was pretty heated when he told me all this, and he is frustrated and sick of his character being questioned without reason. The youth group has had problems with this before, once with an unmarried man, and once with a married man who is now actually on the search committee. What? Clearly marriage is not the issue here, and I don't think I could even tell you what was. My friend, who was already beginning the process of looking for a new church seems more eager than ever to just get out. Is he right to leave? Should he at least finish this year with the youth group? Do you think there seem to be some issues with the church here?
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Matt, this is a sticky situation. No one can or should judge your friend's heart on this matter, nor should we judge the search committee's heart or motivations. Obviously, it's not unbiblical for a single man to serve as a pastor/elder. Timothy. Paul. But it is a topic and concern frequently raised in many churches when a young single man applies for a position as a youth pastor. Right or wrong, it just is. Personally, I don't think any man should be automatically disqualified because he is single. The qualifications of an elder mention "husband of one wife" but don't say he has to be married. Again, Timothy and Paul, both single. This concern could be remedied by making sure the single youth pastor is set up with a good network of support and accountability and surrounds himself with qualified youth workers. That's my two cents. It might be interesting to get Rick Rhoads' take on this.
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