youth worker versus youth pastor

having been a youth worker in a church setting and a youth worker in a government setting i have often been told by fellow christians that the role of youth pastor and youth worker are the same.

so i thought that i might put my opinion out there.

a youth workers role is wide and varied depending on what area you work in. that being said your job is basically the same. you are there to empower young people to make good choices for there lives. you are there to refer them on when you don't have the skills. you are there to advocate for young people on every topic to anyone who will listen and some who won't. as a youth worker it is your job to support , encourage, train and develop young people to reach their highest potential emotionally and relationally. and much, much more.

a youth pastor does many of these things as well. however the youth pastors role is suppose to be all about a persons spiritual growth. the youth pastor in general is not an advocate. they are more of a programs person than a secular youth worker and in general they have less training on the person and much more on the bible.

which one is better is not the question here. i believe they are both needed. what do you think.?

Beginning the Journey

In 1904 G. Stanley Hall coined the term adolescence. Chances are that if you are reading this you either are now or once fitted into Hall's classification of an adolescent and most likely you heard people say things like 'young people these days...' Most of us cringe when we hear this but as we get older are we any different or do we fall into the same traps?

It is easy to be critical of those who are finding their place in the world, a world that has very little interest in helping them but is more interested in keeping them down so that they will fit the mould and not rock the boat.

You may have heard some of the terms young people are described as, 'trouble', 'useless', 'bluggers', 'lazy', 'good for nothing' and my personal favourite, 'deliquent'. Startling really that all of us who are 'trouble, useless, bluggers, lazy, good for nothing, deliquents' grow into 'responsible member of society'! How do we do it? Do we give up what makes us individual? Do we give up the uniqueness of our generations perspective? Or do we simply find a way to fit into societies relentless pressure to conform? And even if we do all this can we really escape the labelling until we somehow reach the 'age' that society deems appropriate? Many of us find that society continues to move the 'age' to fit with what society chooses.

Years ago "Youth" was deemed as 12 to 25 years old, these days some writers think that "youth" is 10 to 30! What are we doing now that has led to such a long period of, as Hall would say, 'storm and stress'? What can people who work with young people do to support and advocate for the 'youth'? what do young people themselves think?

All this and more will be discussed over the coming posts! lets dialogue and help these young people so that they will be a light to a generation!