The value of our wonderful army of leaders was not lost in this survey, but the news was mixed.

• On a positive front, the commitment of our volunteer youth leaders is an undeniable source of encouragement.
• 65% of the survey had been involved for over 10 years (half of them for over 15);
• 91% said their role as youth leader was "one of my priorities in life";
• 50% give 5 or more hours per week to their youth work;
• and 60% see themselves still in leadership in 5 years.


• It seems that leaders feel appreciated more than might have been imagined though perhaps we would still hope these would be higher and encouragement is highly valued:
• 83% feel valued by their minister
• 70% feel valued by their congregation
• 71% feel appreciated by their young people

"The minister acknowledges what you are doing and says you are doing it well, and that's really, really encouraging to know that you are doing it well and not stabbing in the dark."
- Youth leader


• On a more negative front, however, this level of commitment clearly is a huge pressure on leaders, for example 60% of leaders are in more than one organisation. Leaders spoke about these pressures freely:


"Sometimes you just carry on because you feel there's nobody to replace you, not that you're irreplaceable, but just that there is nobody there." - Youth Leader

"I am stuck, between studying and trying to prepare the youth fellowship, and then at times I think that my studying suffers because of it, so if you could just give me an extra few hours in the day that would be a help!" - Youth Leader


• No church seems to have enough leaders for the work they attempt to do. Ministers identified leadership numbers as the fourth biggest and Youth Leaders the third biggest challenge to youth work in congregations. (See table in section 1)


"Due to our lack of leaders the continuance of the youth group is in doubt. I would like to see the youth group continue." - Minister


• However, only 66% of ministers and 61% of leaders agreed that "we are deliberately developing leadership within our young people" and perhaps in the light of the above this should be much higher.



• With over 40 congregations starting the autumn session with youth workers in post, there are great implications for developing the professional context of this growing and encouraging investment in staff. In those churches where there is no youth worker, 41% of ministers and 50% of youth leaders expressed a desire for one.



• Much of this is about recognising a need for a move towards team ministry. Only 5% of ministers agreed with the statement "my training as a minister gave me satisfactory preparation for youth work in my ministry".


"a youth pastor, (is) contextualised youth ministry, someone who lives in the congregation and knows those young people by name, works with them everyday, visits their schools, visits their youth clubs, sees them in the streets." - Minister

Did you know that in England and Wales 22 million people are volunteering, approximately 90 million hours per week. Don't know the statistic for Ireland, but if we did, Christians, especially volunteer Christian youth leaders, would be a major part of the statistic.

Our survey, and in fact conversations with ministers and leaders over the years, highlights the difficulty of finding enough volunteers for leadership in youth organisations. Research into this issue reveals some useful means of addressing the leadership problem. These, of course, are not comprehensive solutions to this complex issue but they have contributed significantly to resolving the difficulty of adequate leadership. The key seems to be a deliberate culture of every member ministry and a fairly aggressive implementation of every member ministry. What does this look like?

• Churches where there is a deliberate culture of every member ministry do not seem to have great difficulty getting enough volunteers. This is the case for large and small fellowships; inner city and rural congregations. When members are empowered to serve, they serve.
• The invitation to serve is not selective across age and gender. Male and female make up the ministry team, as do young people, young adults, middle-aged and retired.
• Ministry roles are nurtured according to people's giftedness, not their availability. Again this is demonstrated in the small and the large congregation.

NB The every member ministry automatically draws young people into ministry opportunities and leadership roles that go beyond the youth group. A leader said to me recently, 'if we do not tap the energy and enthusiasm to serve that we find in our 14 and 15 year olds we will produce cynical 17 and 18 year olds who leave us as soon as they quit school.

Another important feature of growth ministries was a commitment to the employment of ministry professionals and an accompanying team ministry approach to leadership. However, the ratio of professional staff to volunteers in any context was always small. The volunteers always formed the backbone of the ministry teams.