Christopher Boccalupo loves being the Director of Youth Ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Islip, NY. He has been on staff at Trinity for over 18 years, working with children, teens, young adults and youth leaders. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Christian Ministry, and a certificate in religion from Concordia New York, and is currently completing the Colloquy process to become Minister of Religion-Commissioned (DCE) through a graduate program from Concordia University St. Paul. He is Married to Christine, and has 2 children, Rebekah and John.Christopher Boccalupo loves being the Director of Youth Ministry at Trinity Lutheran Church in Islip, NY. He has been on staff at Trinity for over 18 years, working with children, teens, young adults and youth leaders. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Christian Ministry, and a certificate in religion from Concordia New York, and is currently completing the Colloquy process to become Minister of Religion-Commissioned (DCE) through a graduate program from Concordia University St. Paul. He is Married to Christine, and has 2 children, Rebekah and John.Director of Christian Education. What is that?
Maybe your church staffing committee is looking to call one or you are looking at the possibility of Christian Employment in this role.
At first glance it would seem to be someone who directs the educational ministries in a congregation.
Another would be someone who works with youth. The “Youth Director” or youth worker.
In the LCMS, the DCE is a “Minister of Religion” – Commissioned. Well what is that? One proposed definition by Steve Arnold is this:
A Minister of Religion Commissioned is a rostered diaconal leadership ministry of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod designed to offer a ministry of Word and Service, supporting the Church. Ministers of Religion-Commissioned are called to recognized specialized ministries of the Church that model a servant life, and seek to equip and educate the baptized people of God to live out their vocation.
Yes, and then there is another proposed definition of the DCE by Arnold that states (and is also the philosophy that guides Concordia St. Paul’s DCE program) :
A Director of Christian Education is a diaconal minister of Word and Service , called , certified and consecrated as a lifespan educational leader to nurture the formation of faith to equip the people of God for service and witness.
How does all of this relate to Youth Ministry? I’ll be sharing some thoughts in my next few entries.
Whenever our church has an event where young adults are that have gone through the youth ministry that I have overseen, I usually end up talking to them, even if I am not running the event. It’s during this time that I am able to marvel at how they have grown up from the first time that I really dealt with them in ministry, and it is wonderfully satisfying to see them still responding to Jesus’ work, by continued involvement in their congregation.
I remember maybe twenty years ago when I was considering going to college to study youth and family ministry, to become a “youth minister”, a common refrain (or warning) leveled at me would be " the average youth worker stays in a church for 18 months.” “Really 18 months?” I thought, “That certainly makes for a lot of vacancies.” I can probably find a job easily enough.
But seriously, what could be accomplished in 18 months? (Or three years for that matter) If your church considers “youth group” to start at 7th grade, then that’s at least a six year commitment to see that student through the middle and high school years. Thankfully as youth ministry has become more of a serious profession in the church in America, youth workers have stayed in churches longer. Usually in the LCMS congregations, if there is a DCE on staff, he or she is working with youth and families. According to Dr. James H. McConnell, a study in 2004 said that 70 percent of DCE’s were not expecting to leave their present ministry’s by 2007 when surveyed.
The benefits of staying in one church for a long time are many, but some of the main benefits include, a shorter learning curve, getting to see your students mature, having a proven , trusted ministry (which helps with parents), and the chance to see some your students go into ministry or the workplace equipped to serve God according to their vocation.
Churches need to provide clear job responsibilities, reasonable staff support, and a vision for the future, so that the church worker will want to stay longer, but I believe that one becoming a Minister of Religion or church worker in the field should be cultivating an attitude of long term ministry in one setting.
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