Building sustainable Youth Ministries... One church at a time.

YMA For Search Committees

If you've been involved in the search for your next youth pastor for long, you have likely heard all the reasons why yours is an impossible task:

  • "The pool of qualified candidates is mighty thin."
  • "The people with proven experience don't want to do youth ministry any more."
  • "That salary package is unlikely to attract the kind of candidate you are looking for."
  • "The typical youth worker only stays for 18 months anyway" (an absolutely false statistic)
We've heard all the gloom and doom as well. And you know what? 

We don't buy it. 
 
We'll agree youth ministry is challenging.  We'll agree that the shelf life on an average youth worker is much shorter than we'd like. No doubt there are thousands of other churches searching just like you are. No doubt churches are having a harder time than ever finding well-equipped youth staff willing to stay for a number of years. 
 
But it doesn't have to be that way. 

Over the years, we've developed a number of processes for building sustainable youth ministries (and placing sustainable youth ministers). 

"This is an amazing process your are running- I'm so impressed with the clarity and the detail."
-Search Team Member at an Episcopal Church in Nashville, TN       

CLICK HERE to hear what others are saying about YMA
What we've discovered is that the most successful professional youth workers are those who do ministry with a sustainable structure beneath them.  But most professional youth workers don't know how to build a sustainable structure.  They may know how to run it; they just can't build it. 
Youth Ministry Architects helps churches "build its dance floor" before hiring the dancer. Though many churches have asked us to, we have determined not to be a "head hunting" company for youth ministry. Though we are happy to place any church's Ad on the free YMA Job Board,we only assist in the search process with churches who have completed the YMA Assessment, and are working to build a sustainable structure in which a new youth staffer can thrive. 

Instead of searching for a youth pastor in "the way it's never worked before" (an actual quote from one of our clients), consider a sustainable approach. 
 
"You [YMA] have done a remarkable job with our program and setting infrastructure that will guide for the future."
-Connie F. Whittington, Personnel Chair
Smyrna First United Methodist Church, Smyrna, GA
In the meantime, please remember that your search committee can’t be in a hurry to “fill the slot” no matter how much pressure you might be receiving from parents.  We’ve noticed that it takes a lot more work and stress to get rid of the wrong person than it does to keep looking for the right person.  We believe God has someone in mind for your position, and God - who cares even more about these kids than we do - is not in a panic over it.

Questions?  Let us know.