I’ve worked as a School Teacher. I’ve worked as a Youth Pastor. I’m currently working as a Youth Worker. School teaching is the most secure and structured of the three. Youth pastoring is the most exciting, being able to preach Jesus without holding back. Youth working is wild, unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. My recent observation: of the three roles, Youth Workers have the most street cred with teenagers.
Lots of the crew I work with as a Youth Worker are rough nuts. That means that, when they turn up to school, they are often getting in trouble from their teachers; in the unlikely scenario of them stumbling into a church, they may feel judged by the Youth Pastor; they have a passionate hatred and paranoia toward the Police. But Youth Workers? In between dropping f-bombs*, they show signs of great respect toward Youth Workers.
This was illustrated a few weeks ago during a conversation I was having with a 17 year-old. I was in a team of 3 youth workers and 2 security guards on a late night Street Work shift. In the conversation I found out that this guy had left school at age 14. I asked him if he had a job, but he lost it a couple of years ago. I then asked him what he gets up to during the day. He hesitated, but then confidently and with a smile said: “Ummm… oh, I can tell you, you’re a Youth Worker… I smoke bongs all day!”
While Youth Workers may have street cred, in the end, all local government Youth Work can offer hurting and broken teenagers is a band-aid. Ultimately, my hope is that broken teenagers will turn to Jesus knowing that he loves them.
I know there are plenty of Youth Pastors who read this blog – I’d love to chat to you sometime about how to reach some of these rough nut kids that rarely come to your programs.
*dropping f-bombs = swearing at you
