In almost any other career, people would regard 38-year-old Andrew Patch as being at the peak of his working life. But in the world of youth ministry, most would have expected someone of Andrew's vintage to have long since moved on to other areas of Christian work.

However, Andrew Patch, the youth minister at St James', Croydon is one of a small but growing number of youth ministers aged over 35 who see youth work as a legitimate form of lifetime ministry.

Despite Andrew's training as an economist, the father of two has been in youth ministry full time since 1988.

"I always thought I would be one of the people who supported everybody else financially in the ministry, rather than doing it myself. God works in strange ways," Andrew says.

Andrew obtained a Bachelor of Theology, which he says established that he was serious about youth ministry.

"It was important that I studied at the same level as other minsters," he says.

"Once you see youth ministry as a career you choose to also lead the leaders and not just the kids. You bring a maturity of life experience which enables you to have a much greater influence."

Andrew says understanding youth ministry as a form of cross cultural work is important for effective leadership. He believes this should enable older Christians to feel more comfortable with leading youth.

"Youth are multicultural not just in terms of nationality, but in terms of everything " music, sports, schooling, mindset. You need to understand what they're like, but you're not one of them and you don't try to be one of them," Andrew says. "You have to develop a missionary mindset as a youth minister."

The two key aspects of youth ministry at Croydon are for the leaders to know God themselves and to make him known in the context of Biblical relationships with the youth.

"I talk with my directors and train the leaders. They then work with the leaders who in turn work with the kids. The leaders work most closely with the youth. Directors bring a maturity to that leadership and I deal with situations as directors pass them onto me," Andrew says.

"It all comes under that relational ministry. We build intentional relationships, modelling Christ with the youth."

Andrew says the main pressure for a leader is to not be hypocritical.

"You must make sure that you are living out what you are teaching the youth. You are not just a teacher who gives information. It's about living the life and encouraging them to live it with you."