2 ways your church can turn the tide on youth ministry burnout

2024 was a remarkable year for research at the Fuller Youth Institute. We launched our “Youth Leader Checkup” study believing that healthy youth leaders are better able to overcome burnout and stay in ministry longer. With over 1,000 research survey respondents and nearly 1,000 pages of interview transcripts pages from 69 interview participants, rich stories of struggle and successes emerged.

We quickly learned that youth leaders are exhausted, overwhelmed, and depleted. And through our research, we were able to learn why. Youth leaders hold significant roles in the lives of young people. Their impact on the next generation remains critical as they serve as confidantes, mentors, and trusted sources of discipleship and guidance. What’s more, parents rely on them to help guide their young people through challenging times in their life and faith. If youth leaders aren’t flourishing, the future of the church is not good. Our report is significant because it helps us uncover layers of concern, provides youth leaders with practical strategies to help address burnout, and provides senior leaders with tools to become effective partners in impacting the next generation.

A candid look at youth leader burnout

In The FYI Report on Youth Leader Burnout and Wellbeing, we uncovered a lot of surprising data. The most shocking was that nearly 60% of youth leaders considered quitting their jobs last year. While many will stay, the mere consideration is cause for a pause. When we asked survey participants to tell us more, they cited two primary reasons for this consideration: job bloat and issues they experienced with church leadership.

With regard to workload, we found that youth leaders are inundated with multiple responsibilities outside of their primary role as youth leaders. Most in our research held at least one additional role: 29% also served in young adult ministry, 26% served in family or Next Gen ministry, and 21% served in children’s ministry. Some explained that their job responsibilities increased once their roles began and expressed their church’s need to hire additional staff or allocate more hours for other staff to share the load and demands of youth ministry work. Here are a few examples of what we heard:

“My job description completely changed within my first six months. I was the student and college pastor. Now I'm also our media specialist. So I do all of our graphic design, I do all of our social media, I do all of our church photography, I do videography stuff. All of that got tacked on . . . I was very frustrated because within less than a year of my time here, my job changed completely.”

“Despite a common perception that part-time leaders are expected to give full-time hours (often resulting in burnout), it’s clear that paying a leader a full-time salary—even a generous one—is not enough to prevent ministry burnout.”

Issues with leadership often centered around the desire for church leaders to trust their leadership and not micromanage their work. One participant shared,

“I just feel like sometimes I'm held on a very tight leash and very much like I need to run every little single thing by [my supervisor]. . . . I need that space to be able to kind of try things on my own, you know?"

Though youth leaders expressed struggle, the numbers still remain promising. When considering longevity, 70% of youth leaders said participants agree or strongly agree that they hope to be serving in their current faith community in five years, 60% are sure they want to be still serving in youth ministry specifically, and nearly 60% consider youth ministry their long-term calling. Some participants shared,

“I love my ministry but I don’t like my job.”

“I don’t feel seen as a person. I just feel seen as a youth pastor.”

Though many were clear about their call to youth ministry, they identified several factors that contribute to burnout. The top three were workload, lack of appreciation and lack of perceived impact.

"There are moments where I feel like, 'Man, is this even meaningful or impactful?' Right? And sometimes that's a tiredness thing for me. But I think sometimes it's just like, 'Why are we doing this?' I think especially in traditional youth ministry settings, I've had that experience more and more of JUST feeling like a circus director and this does not feel like meaningful ministry. This just feels like we're checking all the boxes."

2 ways churches can help prevent youth leader burnout

Throughout our research, we were struck by how easy some issues can be to fix! First, youth ministry leaders want (and need) to be appreciated and recognized for their good work. Regularly share affirmation with your youth leaders, both personally and publicly, and invite parents, elders, and other church leaders and members to show appreciation in concrete ways. And don’t forget students—with a little direction, young people can share some of the most meaningful gratitude for their youth leaders. Recognition may also need to come in the form of a pay raise; consider advocating for this in your church budget on behalf of your youth leader.

Second, youth leaders are committed to the call of serving but often struggle with balance. Remind youth leaders that you want them to be healthy and thrive in ministry long term. One youth leader shared that they wish they could hear the following from their supervisor: “I don't expect you to kill yourself for this job, because if you do, you won't be here in ten years. I care more about your long-term success than I do our current season of success.”

Give your youth leader permission to be and become their best. When their role as youth leader is publicly validated and valued, others catch on. One youth leader said it best:

“I don't want to be a full-time pastor because I am a full-time pastor already… You know, the work of working with children and families is a lot. You know, it's not a step up. Working with young people is true ministry. And until we stop approaching it as it's a stepping stone to be a pastor. Then we won't understand the full breadth of the ministry.”

The insights gained from this research have the potential to transform how we support and retain those who dedicate their lives to nurturing the next generation in faith. If you’re a pastor or senior leader, we created our latest report to provide some key ways you can help your youth leader. 

Support your youth leader for a long and healthy ministry

The FYI Report on Youth Leader Burnout & Wellbeing offers fresh perspective on common contributors to burnout among youth leaders, partnered with practical recommendations to prevent burnout and promote their wellbeing. Download the FREE report today, and together let’s turn the tide on youth leader burnout.

Download the report