Yesterday, in our LIVE YM Talk, we had an open forum conversation where we discussed several issues relating to youth ministry. The top discussions were:
- When your own children are in the youth ministry
- Should women be youth pastors?
- Handling cell phones in youth group meetings
- Reviving a youth group’s spiritual passion
You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.
Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes
Next week’s discussion
April 3: Next week’s featured guest is Joshua Griffin, sr. high pastor at Saddleback Church. He’ll lead us in a discussion about working with sr. high teenagers. Join the conversation LIVE next week!
About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, 
From Ministry Questions.com...
May 18th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
I really enjoyed this. I was researching women as youth pastors and found you. My kids YP is leaving and is a woman. I'm wondering if they will replace her with a man or woman and how I feel about it as a parent, based on history. I lean heavily toward the choice being a man to pastor my kids as well as myself and my husband. I appreciate your point of view, but I have a question. Why do we as adults not want to be pastored by a woman, yet we would allow our kids to be led by a woman?
May 18th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Everyone seems to have a different theological position on this, and that's fine, but for me the issue is spiritual headship. A woman youth pastor still serves under the authority and leadership of the sr pastor, in my opinion.
May 29th, 2009 at 4:54 am
in my opinion, scripture says that a woman cannot be the head of the church of have authority over man, right? i agree with that. this sounds immature, but to me, a youth pastor is kind of like … the shoulder of the body. still under the head (the pastor) but leading another part. I am an 18 year old soon to be graduated highschooler who is going to college to study Youth Ministry. Yes, I'm female, and yes, I feel God calling me into youth ministry. to lead. God has given me a gift of leadership, compassion, and patience. and a love for teens (peers right now). I feel as if the struggles I have gone through in life can be used to glorify God through reaching out to other teens who struggle with the same things I have faced in the past. I think God is calling me into youth ministry and I feel confident in that enough to believe that God is okay with a woman youth pastor. I will have no authority over man. I will have authority over man's offspring until they become man (or adult) themselves, so to speak. But even then, the main authority and decision maker will be the senior pastor. I do not believe it is wrong.
June 22nd, 2009 at 5:25 am
I think you need to realize you are using the word Pastor when refering to women. If a woman want to be a youth director, go for it. But when someone is a Pastor of something, it is completely different. My husband is a youth pastor and our ministry has been just as much to the parents of our teens as it has been to the teens. My husband is also an elder of the church which I believe should only be a mans role. In our society today, let's not strip men of leadership. Teens do not become adults overnight, it is gradual and different for each one, let's play it safe and let men have the role of leadership in this big way.
July 1st, 2009 at 6:56 pm
"Let's not strip men of leadership."
I will say that I am a young woman who will graduate 2010 with a degree in Religion. I have done some specialty in youth ministry and I am looking into the senior pastorate. God has called me to it. I am part of a tradition that accepts and encourages women in the ministry. How can we deny someone of preaching the Word of God, especially when they are called by God to it?
Do you interpret every Scripture as absolutely true, even though we have no original autographs, and in many cases they were written to address specific problems in specific churches?
And why can men shape the lives of our young people, but not women? What about our daughters?
July 24th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
i absolutely agree with erin. i'm not being sexist but i am 13 and i have been called into youth ministry, and im also a female. to me this is a big debate today, should women be youth ministers? i am trying to find SOME encouragement on some of these sites, i have found some, but they always come with a '' but'' or ''however'' i just wish someone would answer the question without descriminating or discouraging.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Glad to hear you're called to youth ministry! Did you actually listen to the audio recording in this post? I think most people are pretty supportive of women youth workers.
And I understand that you may take it personally that some people disagree with that role being available to a woman, but please try not to. Those people are not discriminating against women, they're trying to do the best they can to honor what they believe scripture says even when it goes against American culture. Every believer should respect that whether they agree with the conclusions or not.
October 9th, 2009 at 2:03 am
I also agree that it is acceptable for a woman to be a youth pastor…I have been called into the ministry, and I am very active in helping now while I get ready to study. I know of a woman pastor who is so annointed by the Lord…she can set some fire under your butt…let me tell you..BUT, I believe that even if a woman should be a pastor, that does NOT make her the spiritual leader in her house..the HUSBAND IS.
We also have to understand the circumstances that were going on when that was written…the bible says we shouldn't mix two types of materials in our clothes…is your shirt 100% cotton?
possibly it is, but I'm sure not all of them are!
I am not debating, just stating what I beleive!
October 9th, 2009 at 4:37 am
I'm not sure how a woman can be the spiritual leader of a church, but at home her husband becomes the spiritual leader even though he's married to his pastor, who is his "spiritual shepherd" at church? Hmm… Sounds confusing to me.