Youth ministry in Eagle River
Photo Credit: V. Houser
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December 14, 2009 • Victoria Houser, Guest Contributor
Filed under 2009-2010
There are a lot of churches in the Eagle River area, but how many of those churches have youth groups or youth-oriented programs? How many have youth pastors or youth directors? Not many.
Out of the 21 churches listed in the Eagle River-Chugiak area only eight have youth directors of some sort. Only three have youth directors that have been with that church for over five years. Because of this, not many of the youth in our community are very interested in attending a youth group or even becoming involved in a church. It’s hard for kids to connect with youth ministers who might not be leading them in a couple of months.
Stephanie Gillespie, the youth director at The Crossing, is a little different than your normal youth director though. She has been working in youth ministry at The Crossing for 13 years, six of which were as a volunteer, “I know that this is what God has called me to at this point in my life,” said Gillespie, “I love it.”
According to YouthMinistry.com 88% of teenagers who grew up in Christian families that attended church will leave church by 18 and not return; however, this might be changing in our next generation.
“I think that it’s shifting now,” said Gillespie, “When I started [working as a youth director] the rate [of teens leaving the church] was really high, but in general there are more kids now who are very real about their faith and for the ones that do wander for a while after graduation more are coming back to the Lord after awhile.”
So what is it that kids need in their church to feel connected? What is it that makes them want to go deeper? Consistency. While it may not necessarily be how long the youth director is leading the kids at the church, there needs to be some constant force: a group of people that will be there for them no matter what.
“During my six volunteer years we probably had four or five different main leaders, but we had a solid volunteer team,” said Gillespie, “It’s really hard on the students not to have that kind of consistency.”
While there are still some youth leaders, like Gillespie, who have a passion to lead youth and feel that is what God has called them to do, many do not plan on staying in youth ministry for an extended amount of time. Several youth leaders see youth ministry as a step to leadership elsewhere in the church: maybe on to missions or as a senior pastor.
“Many of them see [youth ministry] as a stepping point into another ministry,” says Gillespie, “a lot of them eventually do something else.”
This may not be one of the main reasons why the rate of kids who leave church after they graduate is so high, but it is a contributing factor. In high school, teenagers need to have security and consistency. If they can’t find this at school or in their family then where else will they find it? It’s important for churches to have a strong, consistent youth program so that ultimately when students graduate they will be able to grow stronger in their faith rather than leave it behind with high school.
