Impulsive Joy

Do you often find jr. leaders hanging out in the sound booth?  Perhaps you have a difficult time keeping students on task and you are feeling frustrated about how to keep them focused?

If you find yourself in that place where you are wondering if empowering kids and youth to lead is worth the effort, It might be time for a heart check.

What happens when we hand the keys of significant responsibility over to our teens – to our kids? Think about it.  When you give away keys to the house, the car, or to anything that is going to require focus and responsibility…..most of us get a little nervous.

The same seems to apply when we talk about empowering youth to lead in ministry.  What if they don’t show up on time?  What if they say the wrong things?  What if they don’t stay focused and on task?  What if they lose a child?

I know we don’t mean to do it.  But it’s really easy to not fully trust students to meet our adult expectations.

Do you trust students to own significant ministry?

I’ve visited with some churches who will give their youth the most meaningless roles because they don’t trust them to do something significant.  And there is this self fulfilling prophecy that cycles over and over again.  It looks a little like this:

• The leader doesn’t trust, so the student is asked to show up and “assist”.
• When the student realizes they aren’t really needed, they begin to show up late or not at all.
• That validates the leader’s lack of trust.
• The leader, in turn, gives the student a smaller role the next time.
• Repeat.

If you want kids and students to feel significant, you have to give them something significant to do.

Can students trust you?

We might give students a significant role but if we don’t equip them for the role, or hold up our end of the bargain, we’re setting them up to fail.  And when they fail, it feeds into our trust issue.

I once observed a student small group leader who had received no training in her role.  She was easily frustrated, would opt out of the lesson plan, and be discouraged by the smallest of behavior problems.  It wasn’t necessarily her fault…she hadn’t been set up for success.

I was talking to a dad recently about what his son, who is in Middle School, thought about serving in children’s ministry.  He told me that his son was actually really eager to serve.  His son showed up to church thinking he would be a small group leader and instead was asked to be a special needs pal that day.  The sudden switch freaked him out so much that he never came back.  He wasn’t emotionally prepared for the task.  Trust had been broken.

Another friend of mine shared a story of her teen who was a tech volunteer in the PreSchool area.  When large group was over, he was  bored and so the director asked him to step into a classroom and be a “helper”.  Every room had bubbles to make the kids giggle and so this teen pulled out the bubbles.  The kids were delighted!  The leaders who were trying to present the Bible story were furious.  The classroom leaders didn’t know how to communicate or work with this teen who had been thrown into the  classroom and ultimately complained to the director.  The ministry director sent him home….he was crushed. Mom and Dad were furious.  He never served again.

Another friend of mine recently shared a story about how her 11 year old daughter was the only one who showed up in a classroom to lead over 20 preschool children.  Rather than close the room, the ministry leaders kept the room open with only an 11 year old to shepherd the group.

Who is advocating for these students?  First impressions are long lasting.  And with kids serving in jr. leadership roles, we are crafting a first impression of what it is like to serve the body of Christ. Our obligation is not only to the curriculum we teach, but to those who serve in our ministries.

Don’t Plug Holes with Students

Youth are so eager to serve.  As long as they don’t feel that you are abusing them, they will show up and serve for everything.  They are not a solution to an adult recruiting problem.  Mobilizing youth is a strategy to train up a generation to be able to step into leadership of the church, businesses, and in our communities.

Please make your mantra be “not on my watch” – set them up to succeed and protect them from over committing themselves or  in roles they are not mentally prepared or trained for.

Youth Leaders are not the Solution to a Broken System.

If you feel that your role as a staff person is to do it all….you teach, you lead worship, you prepare the material.  If you haven’t recruited enough volunteers to have a well running system already in place to mentor and develop young people, you’re not ready to empower students to lead yet.

Trust. It’s a small word with huge implications for what we do.  Can you trust and are you trust worthy?