How many hours a week should a youth pastor spend with teens? (w/ free book giveaway!)

Does our desired youth ministry “plat... Why change is difficult. Or too easy ...

How many hours a week should a youth pastor spend with teens? (w/ free book giveaway!)

What is the rule of thumb for you in your ministry? What do you shoot for each week?

Last week I share a few of my personal opinions and they have generated quite a bit of response online and with some youth workers at a training event this past weekend. I discussed how the platform discussion, the “sage on a stage” model, has leaked into youth ministry circles and changed the paradigm for youth work from a coaching model where adult leaders lead from the middle of youth. Then I discussed how the platform drive (to be known by other youth workers) takes up so much energy and focus that we can end up spending more time (and more dreaming) on that than we care to admit.

At the end of the second post, I made the statement that my rule of thumb as a youth pastor was that I wanted to spend at least 20 hours of my week with teens. I was blessed to be at a church where I only had to be in the office for whatever I needed to be successful in youth work. So, that looked like Monday, a few hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Friday morning. Thursday was my day off. Tuesday and Friday were essentially “second shift” days to connect with teens from 3 p.m. on. Our youth group met on Wednesday nights and small groups happened on Sunday nights. Volunteer training took place on Sundays or Wednesdays before/after the large group gatherings.

So, I thought I’d conduct a basic survey to see what’s happening among youth workers who read this blog. I invite you to post a quick comment to these questions:

How many hours a week are you expected to be in the office?
How many hours a week do you spend investing in/mentoring other adults (volunteers)?
How has your teens’ busy schedules inhibited your ability to spend time with them?
If you could spend X hours a week with teens, what would it be?

AND, I WILL RANDOMLY SELECT ONE OF THE COMMENTS AND THAT PERSON WILL WIN ONE OF MY PAPERBACK BOOKS (OF THEIR CHOOSING). So, you can pick from What Can We Do?: Practical Ways Your Youth Ministry Can Have a Global Conscience, Evangelism Remixed: Empowering Students for Courageous and Contagious Faith, or Middle School Talksheets: 50 Ready-to-Use Discussions on the Life of Christ (or the high school version).