Hardest job you'll ever undertake...
I've taken some time off work to be with Brooke and Jada, and during that time I've been thinking about how much I love what I get to do.
A couple of things I observed about the student ministry world over last week:
- If you care about results, feedback, encouragement, deliverables, follow through, etc., it seems to be one of the hardest jobs you could ever undertake. As much as those matter, they're not always present and if they are, the metrics aren't always so cut and dry...and they DEFINITELY don't tell the whole story.
- It's too important to have quitters running the show. Students have enough people walking in and out of their lives, failing them, leaving them high and dry when things get tough, misunderstanding them...they don't need spiritual mentors who are quitters...hang in there...it matters!
- It requires more than just "liking students"...you have to "love students"...THEN "love them enough to help them see Christ clearly"...THEN "Love them enough to stick with them when they mess up, have tough questions, rebel, disobey, or even run from Christ".
- It's worth the energy, time, & love!
- If you're really into it, you'll do it wrong at some point because no blanket approach will work every time, but how you bounce back and disciple through it will bless the students who're watching you.
- Lastly, IT'S THE GREATEST JOB ON THE PLANET! Besides parenting, what better job is out there than, year after year, raising up the generation who will take over the leadership of Christ's Bride one day! Don't forget, students are 'the Church'...God's sent people!
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Thank you for this. I needed to hear it at this exact moment.
Thanks, DC. While I know you wrote this primarily from a staff perspective, several of them apply very directly to us volunteers. (As I know you know.) I especially love #2 and #5, which really (at least for me) are tied together. You are right that students don’t need more adults in their life that quit on them. For me, that temptation is greatest when I realize that I’ve blown something.
But it seems to me that there is a tremendous opportunity for real “skin-on-skin” ministry in those moments. So often I’m so worried about being “perfect” (like that will ever happen!) that I deny my kids the opportunity (the blessing?) of seeing how a Christ-follower should respond when they’ve blown it.
What I’ve seen in my limited experience is that when I blow it, and I then address that appropriately and humbly with the student(s), it kicks our relationship up another notch. And maybe there is real value in being appropriately transparent and vulnerable enough to model for students how to handle those times.
For many of these students, we are “Jesus with the skin on”, and Jesus was no quitter!
Love ya!