My second interviewee is Matt Cleaver.  Matt graduated from John Brown University in 2006 with a degree in Youth Ministries. He is now pursuing an M.A. in Youth and Family Ministry at Luther Seminary.  He is the Youth Director at Hope Lutheran Church in the Dallas, TX area.  Matt’s blog was featured  in the YS Update this week.

I like Matt and his ideas because he is deeply committed to thinking theologically about youth ministry.  So sit back and enjoy the perspective of Matt Cleaver:


1.  Why are you doing what you are doing?  (why are you in YM?)

The main reason that I even gave youth ministry a chance as a profession was because of my youth pastor.  He was our church’s first youth pastor, and before him I didn’t even know such a job opportunity existed.  As I was earning my youth ministry degree at John Brown University, I came under the conviction that youth ministry offers a unique opportunity to really change the way the whole church understands the Christian faith.  I enjoy young people, but if that was the extent of my interest and passion I would probably be better off working at a school or non-profit organization.  I chose local church youth ministry because I also have a passion for the wider Body of Christ.  Youth ministry tends to be on the leading edge of things, which is an exciting place to be.


2.  Where do you see youth ministry in 10 years?
Realistically, it’s hard to talk about youth ministry without talking about Youth Specialties.  It’s interesting to see that churches that function very differently in other areas can have similar approaches to youth ministry, and I think YS is a big part of that.  Marko (President of YS), I think, is realizing what a vital role YS plays in the American youth ministry landscape and the hand YS has played in getting us into some bad habits and assumptions, and he’s struggling to rethink what it means to do youth ministry (hence his upcoming book, Youth Ministry 3.0), and how YS is a part of that.  I think YS will set the tone and Marko’s book will be a sign of the future.

As for where I would like to see youth ministry in ten years, I would hope that we would see congregations embrace intergenerational ministry, quit getting caught up in programming, and begin to see the deeply theological task of youth ministry.  Youth ministry has been so worried about making sure most training is practical that we have forsaken the theological task before us.  Currently, I get the feeling that most youth ministry degree programs at our colleges and seminaries are run by practitioners.  I think that we will see a shift toward those who are well-trained theologians, Andrew Root at Luther Seminary being among those.  As a result, we will start to see more Ph.D. programs in youth ministry fields.


3.  Right now, what is the biggest epidemic problem in youth ministry?  How are you addressing the problem?
It is impossible to speak of youth ministry without speaking of the church.  So, the big problem is the same for both of us: ecclesiology.  What does it really mean to be the Body of Christ?  This is the question that is being asked and experimented with in the emerging church, the missional movement, and new monasticism.  Deinstitutionalization is occurring, and as a result we will begin to discover our true identity and responsibility as communities of faith.  The church as a whole has cultivated an individual faith and piety and now needs to work on communal modes and practices of faith.


4.  Who are your influencers?
 Eugene Peterson is someone that every youth minister needs to read.  He is wise, articulate, thoughtful, theologically astute, and ordinary.  And his ordinariness has helped me to give meaning to the normal tasks that tend to bog us down in ministry.  I like to say he has helped me develop a “theology of the everyday.”  Anything he has written is worth reading.  Andrew Root is someone who I have enjoyed learning from recently, both in my classes at seminary and through his books and articles.  He is deeply concerned with the theological task of youth ministry and models that in all of his writing.

Personally, my parents, my church community, my friends, and the Holy Spirit have dramatically influenced me into being who I am, even more so than I am aware.


5.  What does every youth pastor need to hear?

“You aren’t called to success–you are called to faithfulness.”