Developing Student Leaders
9/10/2007
It's about that time of year now--right around Thanksgiving and Christmas--when your students who recently graduated from youth group come back to visit and check-in. After all the small talk, you'll probably ask the question that's been in the back of your mind ever since the conversation started. Are you plugged into a church?
Answer you want to hear: "Yes, I'm plugged into a church, serving in a ministry and growing spiritually on my own. Thank you for the tremendous influence in my life."
Answer you may hear: "Uh...well, I just can't find a church like this one. And, when I visit other churches, the people aren't the same there as they are here. And, they just don't teach the Bible the same way you do."
The latter answer that I've heard more times than I'd like to admit is the answer that sparked my passion for developing student leaders who understand that when they graduate from the youth ministry, they don't also graduate from their faith.
If I take spiritual pride in anything related to youth ministry, it's not in what most people would expect. My spiritual pride isn't in the size of my youth group, or the efficiency of my staff, or the strength of my volunteers. My spiritual pride appears when I see "former students" walking with Jesus five years after they've graduated. I love seeing them still following Jesus.
Here are a few things that we, as adult leaders, can do to cultivate students to become leaders:
My youth ministry friend, I want to encourage you to develop the students who display any sort of leadership potential in your ministry. Not only will it benefit the work of the ministry, but more importantly, it can alter your students' understanding that God has shaped them in unique ways and can leave an imprint in their community and a legacy in their long-term walk with Jesus.
Answer you want to hear: "Yes, I'm plugged into a church, serving in a ministry and growing spiritually on my own. Thank you for the tremendous influence in my life."
Answer you may hear: "Uh...well, I just can't find a church like this one. And, when I visit other churches, the people aren't the same there as they are here. And, they just don't teach the Bible the same way you do."
The latter answer that I've heard more times than I'd like to admit is the answer that sparked my passion for developing student leaders who understand that when they graduate from the youth ministry, they don't also graduate from their faith.
If I take spiritual pride in anything related to youth ministry, it's not in what most people would expect. My spiritual pride isn't in the size of my youth group, or the efficiency of my staff, or the strength of my volunteers. My spiritual pride appears when I see "former students" walking with Jesus five years after they've graduated. I love seeing them still following Jesus.
Here are a few things that we, as adult leaders, can do to cultivate students to become leaders:
- Understand that students can be ministers. Too often I hear that students are the future of the church. There's nothing further from the truth! Students are the church of today. We must create an environment where students are challenged to serve others, and discover the significant life God has called them to life.
- Think small. Cultivating student leaders isn't necessarily a program, but rather a process of developing students individually. A word of challenge: you don't have to develop these leaders all by yourself! Small group leaders can probably do this more effectively within their small groups.
- Paint potential. Students need to hear from us that they are gifted and talented, and that they are able to carry out God's work. Some teenagers believe that if they're not outgoing or popular, or lack the upfront-type personality, that they can't carry out the work of the ministry. It's important for us to encourage them and to challenge them by "painting the potential" that they have. They need to "see" that their lives can make a difference.
- Position individuals. Set your students up to win! For example, you may have some students who baby-sit for you. I've got three kids who are older now, but when they were young, my kids would always want a few "favorite" babysitters. They would want the ones who were the best, the most fun, the energetic, the ones who would jump on the trampoline, wear weird clothes, etc. When I would hear that, I'd put my arm around baby-sitting teenager and say, "My kids love you coming over and babysitting. You have a gift with children. Why don't you get involved with the children's ministry at our church?"
My youth ministry friend, I want to encourage you to develop the students who display any sort of leadership potential in your ministry. Not only will it benefit the work of the ministry, but more importantly, it can alter your students' understanding that God has shaped them in unique ways and can leave an imprint in their community and a legacy in their long-term walk with Jesus.
Conversation
When it comes to developing
When it comes to developing student leaders, we MUST be careful to not fall into the trap of every other institution which uses students to meet their organizations goals rather than helping students meet personal goals and growth. There is MUCH to say in the area of systemic abandonment and youth ministries can run into this dangerous area as well. (For more information on systemic abandonment, see Dr. Chap Clark's book, "Hurt: Inside The World of Today's Teenagers" which will soon be released in a revised edition.) Recently, I read the "Student Led/Adult Mentored" article and one of the disturbing thoughts was that the author reverted to student leadership as a result of not being able to recruit enough adult volunteers. (Of course, this was not the WHOLE article, so in fairness to the author, many other valid points were made. We are actually encouraging our students toward maturity through servant and mentored leadership ourselves!) My question/challenge is this: If enough adult volunteers are not able to be identified or challenged to step up to leadership, how is mentoring supposed to occur? If anything, intentional and in depth mentoring takes MORE adults, not less. Unless of course, we are simply "using students" to accomplish OUR tasks (one of the definitions of systemic abandonment AND a shift from adults nurturing students to students nurturing adults - See David Elkind, Ties That Stress, The New Family Imbalance.) One adult can indeed pull together 10 to 20 students to accomplish a task or even to be "discipled" - a complex term that is ambiguous in today's church world. Mentoring carries a more nuanced meaning of deep, committed relationships where the mentor helps the mentored become everything he or she can become. Can tasks do that? Possibly, if it truly is to help the individual grow, not the program. My point is that it takes MORE adults to mentor, not less due to the significant life-on-life ministry needed.
how do we challenge youth
how do we challenge youth leaders to speak the truth when they see something going wrong...they feel they are a snitch. Speaking the truth is what Jesus Christ knows...when not speaking the truth one is moving away from being God like...how do we get them to understand this???
Post new comment