"I Love Youth Workers" - Thoughts by Doug Fields
I love these thoughts.
Doug Fields is a Youth Ministry guru at Saddleback Church in California, home of the "Purpose Driven [Enter Ministry Here]" phenomena. He also heads up Simply Youth Ministry, the best youth ministry resource I've yet to find online. There are resources here for both teachers and counselors at Bethel!
I especially loved reading his thoughts about Youth Workers. That's why I'm directing this article to you...I think you'd be encouraged by reading it! I especially like his 3rd point: Youth Workers Sacrifice.
1 Comments:
That's what I like about Fields' thoughts also: he's talking about real people doing real work - like that blue collar welder who, out of his own pocket, sacrifices for a few kids.
Derek, I really agree with you that we're not Youth Workers because we're saints; we're youth workers because we're willing. And like you say, willing to submit to God and his process all that's asked of us.
Also, I'm glad this article has given you some sort of tangible idea of what a youth worker looks like. I encourage you to "persevere," to allow God to dig deeper into you and use those qualities he's instilling to connect with your Joseph youths.
To be honest, very often, I feel I am persevering also...barely. There are lots of times when I wonder why I'm spending so much time at this thankless job (check that, "volunteer work"). The youths are often ungrateful, parents sometimes ask for just a litte more attention, etc...
But this is what "ministry" is about, what being a servant is about. I'll leave you with a persevering word of encouragement from a very experienced pastor to a younger pastor: "If you get stuck holding the bedpan, carry it like a queen."
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