Youth Pastor Career Information

Small children attend church because their parents tell them to. Adolescents and young adults often have more choices, and they may drift away from the church unless they’re inspired to attend. A Youth Pastor reaches out to these people with classes, retreats, programs, and support, trying to encourage them to stay involved with church life.

If you’re a Youth Pastor, you schedule an event of some sort at least once a week. Sometimes, you hold study groups where students read religious documents together and discuss what they mean. Other times, you hold sports events such as baseball tournaments and football games, allowing you to reach out to the sporty teens in your parish. Additionally, you hold dances or bake sales to raise money for spiritual retreats for your students.

While conducting your events, you look for young people who seem more inspired than the rest. You give them more responsibilities, as well as tips on how to be effective leaders, and you talk to them about devoting their lives to the church in a formal way. These students may go on to become Pastors or Priests because of your influence as a Youth Pastor.

Students love to see you out and about, and you try to connect with them in these informal settings. You attend sports events, movies, plays, and parades, and in these events, you continue your work of reaching out to the students, trying to talk and listen to them.

Of course, your events couldn’t push through without money. So when the church puts together a budget, you fight for funding for your programs. In every church meeting, you remind the attendees of the needs of your young population, and you work hard to make sure their needs are always kept in mind.