Youth minister becoming more important all the time

By LORETTA FULTON Senior Staff Writer

It used to be that the youth leader was either the newest minister on the staff of a big church or the most over-worked parent at small church.

It still is in too many instances, experts believe, and some are trying to change it. The prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary even has an Institute For Youth Ministry, offering a doctorate in practical theology with an emphasis on youth ministry.

ot many youth ministers have a Ph.D. in their field, and the director of the institute says the school is not trying to turn out specialists but rather ministers who are prepared to handle the youth assignment in more than a babysitting capacity.

'The pastor may be in a church of a hundred people and by gosh there are going to be kids in that congregation." said Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean, director of the institute.

The question is, what do you do with them?

In too many churches, the youth "meet in the basement while the church meets in the sanctuary, the youth ministry has a bake sale while the church has a budget," Dean said. "The whole point is to bring these together." CHANGING GEARS

In her 20 years of being associated in some capacity with youth ministry, Dean has seen shifts in how youth work is approached.

The major change she has witnessed is a shift from program-based ministry to relationship-based youth work.

The reason is simple.

"Nobody remembers the programs, they remember the people," said Dean, who along with colleague Ron Foster has a new book to be published by Upper Room titled <I>The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul-Tending For Post-Modern Youth Ministry.<I>

Another major shift in youth ministry is away from the annual Christmas pageant in which bathrobes play a significant role to full scale productions featuring rock bands and flashy special effects.

Chris England has been in youth work locally for a number of years and has been back at St. Paul United Methodist Church as youth minister for a year after having held that job previously.

On Sept. 14, the church will start a Sunday evening contemporary service led by the youth. It will feature "celebration music" performed by a band formed at the church.

"You have to have a lot more bells and whistles nowadays to compete in society," England said.

The proliferation of contemporary Christian music nationally, and its quality, is evidence of the emphasis young people place on it.

"The music of the new Christian musicians is just phenomenal," England said. "That's real beneficial to the youth program."

But what about the small churches that don't have enough young people or money to put together a dazzling show with "bells and whistles?" 'I DO EVERYTHING'

If the church is lucky, it's located near a city with three church-related universities stocked full of students planning to go into some type of ministry. Like Hannah Bone, for example.

A sophomore at Methodist-affiliated McMurry University, Bone has a paying job as youth minister at the Methodist church in Albany, 35 miles to the northeast.

The job can be trying with conflicting schedules, homework, another job and the travel involved.

"They even put a bed in my office," Bone joked.

But so far the experience is rewarding. Bone works with about a dozen kids, most of whom go to other churches in town.

"We're more like the ecumenical youth group," she said.

After leading a Sunday morning class, Bone has some type of activity in the evening. A typical evening includes snacks, games, a Bible lesson and prayer.

The church is too small for a Christian rock band or laser show. But, the kids are fortunate that Bone is a talented musician who plays three instruments and sings.

"I do everything on my own," she said.

After graduation Bone plans to go in to Christian counseling and most likely will continue in some capacity in youth work.

Bone tries to make sure her youth gatherings are more than fun and games. And that's an important shift from previous generations. MINISTRY OF INTEGRITY

Dr. Phil Briggs is a professor in the School of Religious Education at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Briggs, who has been at the seminary 27 years, is old enough to remember what youth ministry used to be like and concerned enough to try to make an improvement.

"In my day on Sunday night we played a bunch of games, drank punch and went home," Briggs said.

Youth ministry is moving away from that, he said, "to really a ministry of integrity and counseling."

One reason, Briggs said, is that young people today are "faced with so many more problems. They need wise counsel."

That's one reason Princeton's director of the Institute For Youth Ministries is so in favor of moving toward a relationship-based youth ministry.

If a teen-ager can develop a good relationship with a caring adult, that encounter could well change his or her life at a critical stage, Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean said.

Dean's own interest in youth ministry grew out of a sense of appreciation for the adults who ministered to her when she was a teen.

"I got into youth ministry out of a sense of pay back," she said.