According to a recent study, the average stay at a church in America is about four years for the senior pastor but only 2.5 years for the youth pastor. Including unpaid volunteer youth workers is down to 16-18 months.
Think about high school students. They are there for 4 years and could possibly have 3 separate youth pastors!? During the most relational time in a person’s life, they have to deal with change and loss repeatedly. Although not the main reason I can see why many students leave the church after high school. Because we already left them multiple times. This is hard to build trust and ownership to make that transition to adulthood within the church.
Embrace The Awkard Podcast spent three episodes talking about the youth worker exodus and how to leave well when one of their co-hosts recently left their youth ministry position after several years. These podcasts can be heard anywhere you can listen (click on the links below).
Episode 61: The Youth Worker Exodus
Episode 62: What’s It Like Leaving?
Episode 63: How to Leave Your Church Well
Embrace The Awkward Podcast is all about helping youth workers handle the awkward parts of ministry better. It’s a podcast by youth workers for youth workers either just starting out or 10-year veterans!
