A female youth pastor

We live in an incredible time. With a few strokes (or swipes) of our fingers on our laptops, ipads, phones, we are able to access information people over 20 years ago never would have thought possible. We are able to receive, give information, know what is happening in the world within seconds, as well as place our thoughts, feelings, and ideas where anyone in the world can read, see, or hear it.

We can read and watch things like: what hormones/chemicals are being put into your food, worse places crime is found in Canada, awareness of females still being paid less then men, or ‘Facts That Prove Pugs Are The Best Dogs Ever’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgRWf1330CM).

These days, women are finding more of a voice in the world and in the church, which is why it is getting to be more acceptable for women to be youth pastors.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know there is still some hesitancy in Christian circles when it comes to any female having the title “Pastor” alongside their name.

To be honest, I always figured Pastoring was a male role only; which is why I often wondered after working under a female youth pastor during my first year at Briercrest is whether or not the church took the role of youth pastor seriously.

Level with me here in my line of thinking:

1. Do people take youth pastors seriously?
2. If not, can anyone attain that position?
3. If yes, can females, along with males, have the chance to be youth pastors?

Here’s my thought process with these questions: in answer to question 1, if we don’t take the role of youth pastor seriously, it could be because the idea of youth group itself is nothing more than a safe Christian drop in center, aka glorified babysitting. On the other hand, it could be a chaotic Christian outreach program with inflatable sumo suits, dodge-ball, clean raves, and the gospel message snuck in. Even so it could be something the church should do because kids need a program right? ‘Look, we have an evening once a month where we play icebreaker games and read the bible like an awkward young adults group.’

Answer for question 2, since the idea of youth group is a poor one, then anyone could run the youth group. It doesn’t matter if their male, female, a youth, dog, monkey, alien, whatever; as long as they give what the church wants and what appeals to the parents.

HOWEVER, if the answer is ‘yes’ then that means the church is looking for someone who fits their criteria for what they expect for the youth group, and if their going for biblically based, then a male youth leader would be ideal, right?

SO – here I am: introvert, HSP (see my blog ‘Youth ministry and personality’ about these terms), and a female. IF my calling is to be in youth ministry and the chance to be a youth pastor comes up, how is this going to work?

WELL, to be honest, the answer to that question will come with time, but for now, I have a story as to me being in leadership positions and my thoughts on the matter.

It was for a class project (fyi, a LOT of my stories and thoughts will go back to College, if that is bothersome, I am sorry, but you have been warned), and my group had the chance to lead an evangelistic training night and an evangelism night at the youth group we all were attending. PLOT TWIST, I was the only girl in the group project, and the only girl in the Sr. High Youth group we would be doing this project with… and I was overseeing the whole thing.

I made sure the guys in my group knew what roles needed to be fulfilled, which was who would be speaking and giving testimonies; and for the youth nights, I lead some of the activities.

Maybe it was because it was near the end of our second semester and the guys were just not wanting to pull their weight… but none the less as the project wore on I thought it was interesting that in this group of guys, and even at the youth group, no one was making jokes or seriously upset that as a girl I was leading it. Maybe it was because I was more like the traffic director and not one of the main speakers, even so, I get the feeling if I had given a talk or a testimony those nights, it would have been fine.

I have this view that youth pastors are just like head pastors in the church, except their audience is younger and more story visuals and audience participation is needed. However, because of this view, the idea of me being a perspective youth pastor seems so conflicting because female pastors are still not fully accepted and the idea of having THAT much responsibility seems so overwhelming.

In the mean time, I am not a female youth pastor, or any pastor ordained or otherwise, I am still just a volunteer that has the opportunity to be in a few leadership roles this upcoming year. As the year unfolds and more pass by, we shall see where the path of youth ministry takes me.

~To God be the glory