19 Things I Learned In 19 Years Of Youth Ministry, Part 13

We truly didn't have much of a choice.

See, we were a smaller church then, but growing very rapidly. Our meetings were less formal because they didn't have to be that "far out" from whatever we were discussing at that time. Lots of times, these meetings happened in hallways and something popped into your brain.

Well, what popped into one of our Sunday School volunteer's brains one July morning was an exciting review of attendance the Children's ministry came across. Turns out that 35 fifth-graders were moving into middle school in the fall and there'd be 50 coming into 5th grade! She was pumped. My brain went into overdrive because I'm not that strong in math.

I began computing the outgoing 8th graders, which was about 15. This meant an increase in 20 teens even if we didn't have any growth, and our church was growing quickly. This meant that we'd now be having nearly 70 middle schoolers meeting weekly. This meant that we'd outgrown the area home we were using for our Wednesday night meeting. There was no room at the church because the children's ministry needed the entire building that night.

Dilemma.

Meetings ensued.

Ultimately what evolved from those discussions was a plan to move the middle school program to Tuesday nights. There would be a staffing issue since so many adults were already recruited & had begun training to support the Wednesday night children's ministry.

I felt pretty confident that we could staff the middle school minstry with high school seniors. It seemed feasible. Sure, they'd require lots of training and oversight, but that's my job for cryin' out loud.

I met with some area youth ministers to get their feedback.

"No way. They're not ready."

"Are you crazy? Think of the liability issues!"

"Can't really be done. It sounds great. It's even idealistic in the best possible ways. I love the idea. I just don't think it'll work."

"Good luck with all that. I'll be praying for you, brother."

Maybe my old seminary advisor would be more encouraging:

"I've seen similar things tried a few times. Some went well. Others not so much. If you can get it to work, we'll bring our classes up there to check it out."

Since we didn't have much choice, we got our seniors and started training. They gave it the old college try that first year and our ministry grew and the high schoolers experienced more growth because they were now leading their own small groups. They were in the Word on their own because they had to be. They were being asked questions they didn't know. We had others who were leading the worship. Others were setting up sound. Others were putting together our audiovisual stuff. Some set up chairs. Some worked the greeter table. Others were arranging the snacks. Others cleaned up after it was over. We gave them bowling shirts with their names on them.

It was an army of high schoolers...pretty much all the actively involved ones were a part of the middle school Tuesday night thing. They were excited because they were all using their gifts and talents in a meaningful way. We had unity in our ministry. Then they started leading service projects for their groups.

Our students became ministers. It spread throughout the church, too, because some discovered that teaching wasn't their thing. Or they liked greeting so much they wanted to be on the Sunday morning team, too. Others liked the behind-the-scenes stuff so they joined the coffee crew on Sundays. Others liked the set-up and take-down, so they plugged in other areas.

This year we're graduating some 25 seniors. 10 of them will graduate having led a small group for two years. Another 6 were involved in the worship ministry in either sound or on stage. One of our elders noted that his 7th grade daughter started telling him that she couldn't wait to get into high school so she could "spend two years on the service crew and get her own small group her junior year." He told me he was encouraged that our middle school students even thought in those terms. He told me that it's a pretty cool culture that we've created. He told me that everybody really starts growing spiritually once they serve others using their gifts instead of sitting around in Bible studies all the time.

And, yes, the seminary has called a couple of times to come visit. They've not been able to arrange a time for the field trip, but several individuals have come up to see how we do it.

And, yes, we've had growing pains. Like I said in an earlier post, we've had all sorts of moments of brilliance and all sorts of moments of stupid-head. You get that with high-schoolers. But overall, both middle school and high school ministries have benefitted greatly.

And it's cool to serve at a church that believes the 13th thing I've learned in 19 years: Teenagers are not part of the church of the future, they're members of our Body right now.

Our student ministry has been a vital cog in our church's missions program. We were the first group to go to Europe. We've taken the largest short-term team in our history to build homes in Juarez. We've sent two full-time missionaries from our church who got their start on a student trip. It'd take too long to round up the list who've been gone for a month or more during the summers. One just told me Sunday she's off to Greece for her full-time assignment.

Just this year, we've got 4 former students starting at seminary. I had two former students graduate this year.

Look around our church on any Sunday morning. Students are in the nursery. They're serving as assistants in the children's C.E. department. Some are on the coffee crew. Some hand out bulletins and greet. Some are in the missions meetings. Some are raising funds for the upcoming Juarez trip. Some were part of setting up the chairs. Others clean up between services. Some are on the worship team leading that morning. After that, some middle schoolers will be sitting in a group and taking notes on the sermon. They're imitating their high school leader, too, because they think that high schooler is "awesome" and they want to be like her.

Student ministry has to be more than having your church provide a really cool room and really cool stuff for the kids so they'll stay occupied until they're "old enough" to join the congregation. There's not some kiddie-table where they sit until they can carry on conversations with the alleged grown-ups. They need to sit at the big table. They're part of the church RIGHT NOW. We need their gifts and talents being used to help others mature.

Want proof?

Try 1 Timothy:

"Let no one look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in your speech, conduct, love, faithfulness..." Granted, "youth" there likely means late-thirties/early forties, but the point is the same. A 12-year-old is capable of being an example of growth in Christ. They can control their speech. They can control the way they act. They can love. They can be faithful. If they're growing in Christ, I can't find where there's an age limit or starting point. Just do it.

Try Ephesians:

"But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured captives; he gave gifts to men.”...It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature." If they're saved, they've got a gift. They don't get it when they turn 22. They have it now. They need to be using and developing it now. And you can learn an awful lot from middle schoolers.

My students have sharpened me and helped me grow.
My students have encouraged me when times were tough.
My students have shown me how to have a deeper walk.
My students have been...

...well...

...my teacher.

And they can teach all of us.

Now.