Disciple your Students!
When you run into your graduates four, eight, or twenty years from now, where do you hope to find them? If you imagine the conversation, what are you going to talk about? Will you reminisce on the fun memories from those student years? Hopefully, you will have some great stories from events, trips, and camps together. Let’s be honest: your alum probably won’t remember the three points from your most recent sermon and may barely be able to mention any of the series you taught the group. Hopefully a few key lessons will remain, and your teaching probably laid deeper foundations than either of you will realize.
When you move on from celebrating the past, what do you hope your graduate will have to say about life after high school? Now that I’ve seen over a decade of students graduate and move into the “real world,” I can promise you that one thing matters far more to me than having a cool youth group with fun events and an impressive social media presence. I’ve spent enough energy on attempts to make students excited about my youth group. My vision now is to see students become lifelong followers of Jesus.
Lifelong followers of Jesus
Every youth leader faces pressure to fill seats on a weekly basis as well as spots on trips and events. Getting your group hyped up for the next big thing and all the details that go into planning these great events can lead your focus to rest fully on the events and your students’ response to calls to sign up and bring a friend. I love planning events! I love seeing students come together to have fun moments together. But as I go through the rhythms of ministry, I have learned the importance of stopping to spend some time reflecting on why we do everything we do in the first place. The purpose of every part of my ministry is to raise up lifelong followers of Jesus. I want to see students established in their faith so that after they graduate, they will branch out to a life of faithfulness to Jesus.
Rooted
“So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude.” Colossians 2:6-7 (CSB)
Paul places the gospel call upfront, which is a crucial reminder for every youth leader. Ministry to students must always begin with the gospel and keep the gospel at the forefront in every event, lesson, leader meeting, and conversation with students and families. If we want to have an effective ministry, we must have a firm grasp of the gospel and share it clearly and regularly with our students. The call to discipleship starts by reminding students that they received Christ Jesus as Lord. The surrender to Jesus, the one who paid our sin debt and rose again, conquering sin and death, is the starting point of faith, and we should regularly include the call to faith and repentance in all that we do with students.
I remember an important conversation after stepping down from preaching what I thought was a great sermon. My mentor and pastor stopped me and said, “Caleb, that was a good sermon. All that was missing was the gospel.” Ever since, I have made sure to show where my passage points to the redeeming work of Christ each time I have the opportunity to preach. Beyond that, I want to make sure my conversations with students and families include the gospel as often as possible. I want the events I plan to have moments for gospel proclamation. I want my students to learn how to share the gospel! One of the best parts of a recent student mission trip was our morning devotions that guided students to develop their response to the question, “What is the gospel?” Each morning, they wrote their response to the question, and then we dove into another aspect of the gospel. I celebrated students articulating their faith, and we even had the privilege of baptizing one of these students, who was finally ready to make his faith public after the week together!
The ministry of the gospel is discipleship. It’s not just an entryway, not just step one. However, we have to guard against leaving students at the beginning. Students need to grow in their faith after embracing Christ as Lord. Paul casts this vision with the call to “continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him.” Our students need a firm foundation in their faith, a rootedness in the truths of Scripture that will enable them to stand strong when the winds of human cunning blow against them. We need to teach truth, define doctrines, and warn against false teachings that they are already encountering every day. As students grow in these foundations, they will be built up, ready to branch out for a lifetime of faithfulness to Jesus.
I hope when you see your students in the future that, you will get to celebrate a life of faithfulness and fruitfulness for the kingdom. I hope you will see your former student flourishing, rooted, built up, and established in Christ. Let’s craft our ministries towards that end.
By Caleb Creel
Student Pastor @ First Baptist Church Kingsport