another thing I dislike

One of the hats I wear is Youth Pastor. Somehow that means that people think they can get me to get teens to do stuff for them for little to nothing. I'm not complaining that we should do stuff always for money or fundraising for something. But guess what? Kids don't like doing stuff that is like chores at home. I'm all for the youth helping out but it should come from them and not from me saying, "we're going to do this today and that tomorrow". My role is to build relationships with them and while sometimes it means we do stuff to help out, it shouldn't be taken for granted. The number of times I've heard someone say, "oh the youth should do that". Well how would people feel if we saw dirty dishes in the sink and we said, "oh the ladies should take care of that" or if there was garden looked bad, "hey, you're over 75! Go plant something."

The teens need to learn to serve and give. But they also need to be asked and not told. That means they can say no just like you or I could when we get asked to do something. And if people think asking me is going to mean they are going to say yes, you don't know me very well. I'm not going to use up my relational currency with the teens to do something that I don't think they'll enjoy just because it's me asking. I'd rather use that currency to get them to go to camp or Creationfest or a retreat.