Youth ministry is weird.  Ok, that's cliche, granted, but it also happens to be true.  Not weird in the "odd for God" way.  Rather, its simply a strange amalgam of skills and knowledge.

For example, a youth minister should be expected to have some expertise in:

• Biblical knowledge
• Discipleship methodology
• Cultural studies (especially progressive culture)
• Counseling, especially crisis and developmental counseling
• Adolescent development
• Family systems
• Organizational communication (especially non-profits)
• Leadership development
• Educational psychology (how people learn for transformation)
• Visionary and strategic planning

It's worth noting that each of these is a field all it's own - one can get advanced degrees in each of these subjects!  Add to this specializations in such diverse fields as multimedia technology, marketing, and facility management!

My point is that developing a holistic program to address the  core skill set for working with adolescents in the church hurts my head!

This is also why I've begun telling prospective Y&FM students that "loving Jesus and loving kids" isn't enough to be a youth minister.  That's more than enough to minister to youth, mind you!  Youth ministers, in our program at least, do indeed love Jesus.  They also love kids.  They add to that solid foundation a desire to master the skills necessary to transform adolescents into culture-building disciple-makers, families into stable agents for change, and churches into organizations where youth have a dynamic role in ministry now AND in the future.

We're looking toward a standards-based portfolio system to help us integrate this wide diversity of skills into a more holistic process.  More to come, kids!