If your students were polled and asked what they gained by being in your ministry, how do you think they would answer? Notice I didn't say; … what they liked about your youth ministry or group. Which may or may not be a valid measurement of the first question, depending on how your students answer. You’ve committed to leading this youth ministry. Why: To do what? What’s your goal; what are you trying to accomplish in the lives of your students by providing and leading this ministry?
There are a lot of ways this is answered today. Some leaders
focus on providing a warm and receiving safe place for students to come, no
bullies allowed: It’s a place to feel the love of Christ. Some leaders focus on training their students
to be a force of social conscience; feeding the homeless, caring for the
elderly, rehabbing houses: It’s a place to be the hands and feet of Christ. Some
leaders become a social magnet in the lives of students trying to offer
elements of all the above; it’s a place to experience
for the “body of Christ”. Still other leaders focus on engaging and growing
their group through the “message of Christ”; the conversion of each heart
through acknowledgement of sin, repentance and receiving the free gift of
Christ’s sacrifice: It becomes a place to be assured of Heaven.
No matter which of these groups resembles your own; maybe it’s something quite other that hasn’t
been touched on in this post, regardless; What are you doing? What is the
point of the gospel, which to be sure includes pieces of the above things, but
on an individual and corporate level, what is the value? What does a student
gain by being touched by your ministry? You know already I’m going to make a
suggestion so hear me out.
If a student or individual isn’t gaining a transformed life,
moving them from where they are, to completion (maturity) in Christ. If that
student has absolutely no clue that Christ’s message of salvation deals not
only with eternity but the hear and now; if they get anything but a strategic
connection between who they are; their unique design (Psalm 139) and Christ’s
mission: A mission to redeem them, bringing them to fruition for His kingdom
and glory now as well as for eternity future (commonly called heaven) then even
if your doing good stuff, it’s the right stuff, with the worng goal.
Do you teach your students to own the glory of their lives?
To understand and know that the redemptive process is about God releasing His
design in them, that thing they were made for? Do they know that apart from Him
they will never gain their sense of purpose and fulfillment? The driving hunger
of their souls will be forever damned in an unquenchable thirst unsatisfied;
yes in eternity that will be played out in eternal suffering separated from God
in everlasting darkness; yes scripture defines clearly Hell as that place of
torment. It will also be played out in this life as they run down every path of
promise looking for answers and meaning. So are they gaining at least a sense
of God’s plan for their lives from you, or
simply training for a position in you corporate structure called Church? Do
you have some lesser agenda in hopes they will stick around long enough to gain
the real story?
Let me challenge you, as you continually hone your skill
in the word, to become a student of God’s intended story for now; read books like;
Gary Barkalow’s: “It’s Your Call”, or
Donald Miller’s: “A Million Miles In A Thousand Years” There are so many that will assist you and give you the
tools to help your students live out their role in God’s unbelievable narrative. Don't give your students less than the whole story!
