I've been thinking a little bit lately about what sort of cost there is to a church that wants to run a thriving and growing Youth Ministry.  I'll give you my initial three thoughts, but I'd love you all to add your wisdom and insights from your experiences, reading etc.


  1. Youth Ministry makes you (the church) no money (that is they don't tend to tithe) and costs you a lot (youth pastor, budget to buy stuff, bigger electricity bills, bigger maintenance bill after we break everything in the church).
  2. Youth aren't that helpful.  They are messy, they don't put the cups back in the right order, they don't tend to use neat systems.  They are selfish (Aren't we all?) and they don't see (generally) past their own interests.  This is not all bad.  It's more just a life stage thing.  We can't make youth be like 50 year olds.
  3. Youth Ministry is edgy.  This will challenge you because your a Christian and you're probably not edgy but conservative.
  4. This is yours to add in the comments...