Student Ministry and the Church

We are living in a time where students seem to be leaving the church in droves and not returning. Both traditional and contemporary student ministries in my area have all felt drops in attendance with more and more of the student population choosing not to affiliate with the church. We have heard some national evangelical leaders question the validity or need for strong student ministries siting that society cannot distinguish a difference between students who actively attend church and those who do not. The easy believism of the 90’s has caught up with the church and many students do not see the need or have the desire to plug into ministry. I believe that we are at a critical point and that we need to help our students fall madly in love with our Lord and Savior! We need to invest in this generation of students! We need to let them see Christ in us and see how important a real relationship with Jesus is to us as leaders. For so long we have concentrated on having relationships with students and because of this we have failed to allow students to see what Christ is actually doing in our own lives. This has to change! This generation needs to be challenged. Student ministries must stop coddling students and begin to create an environment where leadership flourishes. We need to expect students to rise up to the challenge and become an active participant in the movement. One of the problems that I see, is there are very few student ministries that are actually challenging students to go to the next level in their relationship with Christ! What do you expect of your students? My prayer for the students that God has entrusted me, is that they genuinely involve them selves in the work of the church! I want them to fall in love with Jesus and because of a real life changing experience I expect them to rise up to what ever challenge that our God places in front of them. Students need to own their faith! It is not enough for them to believe our vision for the church and our student ministry, they need to have input on the direction we are going. In my own ministry we have created a leadership rich environment. I have trained my self to not give students solutions to ministry challenges so quickly. I want the their thought process to engage and want them to develop solutions that will help them in what ever challenges they face. I also encourage dialogue, and I listen no matter how off the wall their response might be. If we expect our students to be leaders in the church ten years from now we have to allow them to have input in the ministry that God has called us to lead. As leaders we must show them that we feel their input is valuable. They need to see the direction that we are leading and then they must buy into the vision. If they do not, you are not leading a movement, you are just doing ministry. So many churches are just doing student ministry. The solution is simple! Invest in students. Look for students who first have a deep love for Christ and give them the opportunity to lead. Let them know how important they are to the Kingdom of God and also let them know how important they are to you and the ministry God has called you to do. I tell students all the time that I cannot do ministry without them! Challenge them! They really want to be challenged! They want to learn the essential doctrines of the church and they also want to have opportunities to serve. Students are looking for a cause, something that they can pour their lives into! As a veteran college and student pastor, I believe our best days are front of us. We have a great group of leaders who are wanting to take the reigns! As student leaders we have to let them learn, let them live, let the love, and then let them Lead! Peace! <><