The Posture of the Youth Pastor
Gospel culture makes great demands on gospel shepherds. As has been discussed it is all too easy to teach right doctrine but let the culture of the group be anything but a gospel culture. Generally speaking, the dynamic for the culture is set by the Youth Pastor. When I ask most people what they remember from childhood Sunday School or youth group, very few remember specific talks. They tend to remember specific people who loved them and showed them Jesus.
If the posture of the youth pastor is so instrumental in setting the gospel culture, then what should that posture be? Ezekiel 34 offers examples and warnings to answer this question.
Ezekiel is writing at a time when Israel had experienced a litany of poor shepherds (the kings of Israel). In today’s age, where young people often deconstruct because of the failures of church leaders, it is valuable to remember that the problems of the 21st century are surprisingly resonant. This is also a reassurance for us: poor shepherd leadership is not a new problem.
Ezekiel 34 warns us against three postures we should avoid as youth pastors and shows us how we can model our ministry on our Good Shepherd.
1. Selfish Shepherds
These shepherds were feeding themselves and not the sheep (vv.2-3). This posture put the needs of the shepherd above those of the sheep – it feeds the ego rather than serves the youth. It can be very tempting for youth pastors to become mini-celebrities seeking the adulation of their group. Ezekiel points us to the greater shepherd who is to come (Ez. 34:11-31).
Others use the position of youth pastor as a stepping stone in their career, whether it’s to pursue a larger youth ministry or a more prominent pastoral role. In these cases, the position may be more about their upward mobility, rather than the greater Shepherd we are serving (Ez. 34:31).
Another way the youth pastor can stumble in this area is to focus on purposeless fun rather than making it a priority to get the young people deeper into God’s Word. This sets the culture as one that says to the young people that feeding on God’s Word is secondary. One way we have discovered to do this is to switch the order of our youth group programme. We used to begin with relational time and then move into time in God’s Word which seemed to work. Now we begin with serious Bible time before moving on to relational time when they are ready. One of our girls has commented how much she’s valuing that change and often they want to keep talking about Jesus for longer than we had expected.
The posture that Ezekiel is warning against in these verses displays a lack of care for the weak and the vulnerable (Ez. 34:4). There is a lack of care for those young people who have left or strayed. Instead of a lack of care for those who are not considered ‘strategic’, Ezekiel wants us to long for a group that has beautiful, deep, and Jesus-like care for all youth. Do we long for a youth group that is full of attractive young people or those our society despises? Ezekiel points to a greater shepherd who will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak (Ez. 34:16). Jesus is the good Shepherd who does not wish one person to flee (Ez. 34:11; Luke 15:1-7). The posture of the youth pastor as one who cares for the most vulnerable in the group sets the example for others to do likewise. Here we can model the care of our greater Shepherd.
Often, I have made the mistake of seeing the youth group as the training ground for potential leaders. This is true…to a degree. The mistake I made was to pick the most gifted in the world’s eyes. The future leaders ended up being the young people who were often despised in school and would never have been chosen as school leaders. But they often demonstrated the character of Christ which made them wonderful and effective leaders.
2. Harsh Shepherds
The second warning from Ezekiel is that these shepherds were ruling ‘harshly and brutally’ (v.4). Today, these may look like youth leaders who need to keep people in line and desire control. They will take a stick to the sheep to keep them moving along.
It has taken me a while to realise that there are some teenagers who I could get to ‘behave correctly’ with just a little pressure. But what is that achieving? Rather, we want our young people to know the good Shepherd’s voice and willingly follow Him (John 10:4).
A youth pastor should never be one shouts down a young person, like a soccer manager who was known for giving his players the ‘hairdryer treatment’ at half-time – a verbal tongue lashing. Rather, a godly youth pastor is gentle and lowly in the likeness of Jesus (Matthew 11:29). There are times youth leaders will need to correct and disagree with the young people, but this should be done gently and with patience.
There is a movement that considers such harshness a ‘manly’ expression of leadership. But this is not manly, and it is not godly. The LORD judges these kinds of ‘manly’ shepherds in Ezekiel 34. Young people may be frustrating and arrogant at times, but it is for God’s Spirit to convict them of sin.
There is no excuse for the youth pastor to give truth without love. Our group culture will merely emulate our aggressive posture. How much more effective is Jesus’ gentle and patient grace for our youth? Jesus is that good Shepherd who loves even to death (John 10:11). As under-shepherds we minister in the shadow of that love.
If we want students to taste and see the goodness of God, then even if we are fantastic communicators and preachers, our failure to model the shepherd-love of Jesus has trampled the green grass and muddied the waters (v.18-19).
3. Absent Shepherds
The third warning from Ezekiel is to not abandon the sheep (v.5-6). The shepherds of Israel left the sheep vulnerable to attack, scattered across the hillside where wolves could come and devour them. The same is true of the youth pastor who leaves the church vulnerable to false teaching and who allows worldly behaviors to go unchallenged.
This can happen by making promises for this life which Jesus never made, leading youth to have a false hope which can only lead to disappointment. Or it may be a model that raises questions but ignores truthful answers. Wonderfully, the Good Shepherd is a person who can be known truly (Ez. 34:30; John 10:14).
There will be times when our young people need us to walk with them through difficult seasons and moments. It may be a parent dying or being taken to prison or falling into addiction. Our young people may need wisdom in school. A youth pastor must work diligently to prepare young people. It takes hard work to apply the Christian faith deeply to their life situations so as not to ‘abandon’ them. The youth pastor is one who cares deeply about what the young people are facing and who mourns when they mourn and celebrates their successes.
Ezekiel gives a striking warning in v.7-10 – ‘I am against the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock’. These failures call for the removal of the shepherds. This is a warning to be taken seriously, yet the good news is that we have the best example to follow in Jesus, our Good Shepherd.
The posture of the youth pastor is one who models the person of Jesus before the young people so that they can see the truth and beauty of the gospel, not just hear about it. The young people will learn as much, if not more, from how you respond to the disruptive young person as they will from your exegetical brilliance. The volunteer leaders will also take their cue from the Youth Pastor as to what posture they should take. When this is consistently modeled, with God’s help, your youth group will become a place where the hurting, dispossessed or angry young person feels loved and cared for. That is a faithful gospel culture.
It is an honour and a privilege to be under shepherds of our Good Shepherd!