The Myth of the Perfect Youth Pastor #7

Myth #7

The  perfect youth pastor must be able to coordinate babysitting for all other ministries in the church.

I don’t know how many times it has happened, but each time it does, I get even more frustrated. Someone calls me in the church office and asks a question. These questions come in various forms, so I’ll list the ones I have heard.

1. The young married class is having a dinner and we need some teens to watch their children. Do you think you could set that up?

2. We’re having a couples night and need a few teens to watch the children. Could you give me a list of students who can be trusted?

3. Saturday is the annual church dinner and we need to keep the little ones busy. Would you be willing to open up the youth room, show a video and have some students down there to keep the children busy?

4. Our annual business meeting is this Sunday and we need something for the children while we have the meeting. Could you keep them busy and get a few teens to help you out?

5. We are trying to encourage our married couples to have a monthly date-night. I think it would be great if you and the teens could offer childcare so our marriages can be strengthened.

If you’re a youth pastor or director, you undoubtedly smiled an uncomfortable smile when you read those because they have happened to you.

Church members everywhere have bought into the myth that a perfect youth pastor must also be a babysitting coordinator. I guess it makes sense to many people considering a lot of Christians have the erroneous belief that a youth pastor is nothing more than a glorified babysitter anyway.

So, how do we respond to this? The way I initially reacted to those requests was to do what they asked. So, I spent time coordinating child care. It was time-consuming and frustrating, but I thought it was part of my ministry responsibility and I reasoned that the teens were learning valuable lessons about service.

After a while I started to realize this had nothing to do with service and everything to do with cheap labor. Sure, those making the request couched it with spiritual language like, “this will be a great opportunity for the teens to give back” or (the coup de gras) “a great opportunity to serve the Lord”. But, in reality it had nothing to do with serving the Lord. The teens (and me) were being used as a source of cheap child labor to do something no one else wanted to do. This holds true with other requests as well, like “we need someone to pull weeds on the church property. Could you get some teens to serve the Lord in this capacity?” That, however is another topic.

I eventually started responding differently and not so diplomatically. I started telling folks that I was not a babysitting coordinator and they were welcome to call some of the students and ask themselves.

Then I realized that this WAS a good opportunity to teach something. It was a great opportunity to teach kids – not service, but sacrifice. Jesus did plenty of things without receiving just compensation. Heck, the whole salvation thing was accomplished on his dime and with his blood.

So, what did I do? I found a student who was organized and responsible and designated her as my Childcare Coordinator. Anytime I received a call like the ones above, I directed them to this young lady. She did a great job at first, but something not-so-unexpected happened. People stopped calling her. I would give them her name and tell them to coordinate with her, but they never did.

Why didn’t they call her? Why didn’t they follow through? I can only assume it was because they were under the impression that as a youth pastor this was my job and I should be the one to make the call. This is sad, but a reality every youth pastor has to live with.

A good youth pastor is not, I repeat NOT a babysitter or a babysitting coordinator. We have many other responsibilities and the assumption by some that we should drop them all in order to find babysitters is unfair. Our ministries are our priority and no matter how hard you try, you will not convince me that finding babysitters for YOUR ministry is my responsibility.