Hiring a Youth Minister? Here Are 4 Must-Have Qualities
Four qualities you can't compromise on.
Whenever I need to hire a youth minister, the first thing I do is call a bunch of other ministry leaders, to see if they know of anyone. Lately, I keep hearing the same thing: “It’s so hard to find great youth ministers. If I knew someone, I’d be hiring them myself!”
I just filled a role on my team that had been vacant for 12-months. 12-months! It took four rounds of recruiting to find the right candidate.
In such a tough hiring environment, it’s hard to know what your standards should be. Which qualities are essential in a youth minister, and what can you compromise on?
To answer this question, I’ve gotten a lot of insight from Patrick Lencioni’s book The Ideal Team Player. Lencioni highlights three must-have qualities you should look for when hiring: humble, hungry and [socially] smart. I’ve added a fourth must-have quality to the list, as well as a youth ministry twist on the original three.
1. Humble
Most youth ministry candidates will fall into one of two categories:
a) The Newbie
These candidates have less than three years of youth ministry experience. They are often young adults (18-25 years old) who may never have done professional (paid) ministry before.
b) This Veteran
These candidates have 3+ years of experience, and they’ve built a set of “best practices” around the way they approach ministry. They’re usually a bit older (25+yrs), and may be managing other life commitments, like marriage and family.
Regardless of which category your candidate falls into, humility is non-negotiable. Humble people are always seeking to learn and improve, and that quality is essential for a youth minister.
The Newbie has got a lot to learn – about youth ministry, and probably about skills like organisation and time-management as well. It’s important that they recognise this. They need to be a sponge, absorbing these lessons as quickly as possible.
The Veteran needs to be careful that they don’t get stuck in their ways.
Youth ministry is a dynamic space. Young people are constantly changing and to serve them well, a youth minister must constantly adapt to their changing needs.
Constructive criticism is an crucial part of this process. You need a youth minister who can regularly receive it without becoming defensive or resentful. To do that, they need humility.
2. Hungry
Hungry people are always looking for more – more to do, more to learn, more responsibility, and more impact.
In youth ministry, the difference between doing a good job and doing a great job often comes down to hunger. A good youth minister will send out a weekly communication to parents because you asked them to. A great youth minister will go further – talking to parents at pick-up time, meeting for coffee to discuss their child, and inviting them to actively contribute to the ministry.
Managing staff who lack hunger is exhausting. It feels like you’re dragging them from one project to the next, constantly checking to make sure tasks get done and deadlines are met.
In contrast, hungry people are self-motivated. They take initiative and work hard, making them a joy to manage. Often your biggest role as their team leader is ensuring they work sustainably and don’t burn out.
3. Socially Smart
Management consultant Peter Drucker famously said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” In youth ministry, relationships eat strategy for breakfast. You can have the best strategy in the world, but without meaningful relationships – with young people, their parents, and the parish priest – you’ll get nowhere.
That’s why you need a youth minister who is great at navigating relationships. Lencioni calls this quality “smart,” which can be a bit misleading, because it has nothing to do with IQ. But what he’s talking about is social intelligence – the ability to build and nurture relationships.
Socially smart people are engaging, they’re attentive listeners, and people want to be around them. They also demonstrate good judgment around navigating tricky social situations – like resolving a conflict between young people or addressing a parent’s concerns.
Hiring someone with this quality is essential for building a youth ministry where young people feel like they belong, parents feel included, and key stakeholders feel engaged in the ministry’s success.
4. Faithful
Just because someone applies for a youth ministry role, that doesn’t mean you can assume that a relationship with Jesus is at the centre of their life. But before you hire them, you need to be sure that it is.
This fourth essential characteristic is my own addition. Patrick Lencioni writes for a secular audience. If you’re hiring a project manager for a construction company, their faith life isn’t a critical part of the role. But if you’re hiring a youth minister, it is.
Jesus is very clear about this. He tells his disciples, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
If you want your youth ministry to bear fruit, you need a youth minister who is faithful – someone who prays daily, actively lives out their Catholic faith, and wants to share it with others.
Putting It All Together
Each of these four qualities – humble, hungry, socially smart, and faithful – is non-negotiable. This isn’t a scorecard where three out of four is “good enough.” If any of these traits is missing, resist the temptation to hire that candidate. I’ve learned the hard way that hiring the wrong person for a role is worse than temporarily leaving that role unfilled.
Of course, no candidate will be perfect. Every person will have at least one area where they’re weaker. But what matters is that they (1) recognise their weaknesses, (2) understand why those qualities are essential, and (3) are committed to improving in those areas.
Be patient. Wait until you find someone who embodies all four of these qualities. When you find them, don’t hesitate – do everything you can to quickly secure them for the role. That person will be game-changing for your youth ministry.