The Right Age for Working in Student Ministry

As a long-time student ministry guy myself and as someone whose cool-card is currently being traded in for a daddy-card, I really appreciated these thoughts from Doug Fields.

Fields, who has now served in student ministry for over two decades, concludes that despite his older age he’s more ready than ever for youth ministry because, in his words…

1. I’ve never felt more effective in youth ministry than I do now.
2. I don’t believe teenagers care about relevance… they care about relationships.
3. Having had 3 teenagers live in my home, I know more about teens now than I ever did and can literally talk “their language” more accurate than I could when I was in my 20′s.
4. I’m closer to Jesus than I’ve ever been and I definitely have more wisdom to pass on (which was the thesis of the YM360 post).
5. I’m more patient, realistic and encouraging about spiritual growth. I better see the big-picture of sanctification than I did when I was younger and equated “program attendance” to “spiritual growth.”

For my fellow youth workers, I hope this encourages you.

(You can read the whole article HERE.)