Working in Youth Ministry is by far one of my most favorite things. Notice I didn’t say it was the easiest, nor the most peaceful, nor did I say it was the most rewarding. Also notice, that I didn’t say it wasn’t those things.
Recently, a woman in Youth Ministry called me to say that she was done. She was heartbroken because she felt like she had made such an impact on her students, only to watch as they slowly slid back to their old habits and life styles.
My flesh wanted to make the conversation all about me.
Lady, do you KNOW how many times I’ve been cursed out, gossiped about and shoved out of student’s lives in Youth Ministry? It’s part of the job!
But praise the Lord, I sat quietly and listened.
She continued to tell me how badly it hurt to be treated this way. Not only were her students sliding back into old habits, but they were dragging others with them.
I felt the Holy Spirit whisper two words to me:
Growing pains
In elementary school, I had been the same height, if not taller than most of my classmates. But when middle school hit, everybody started growing…. Except for lil ole muah. My head fit almost perfectly into my shorter guy friend’s armpits… preeeeetty classy—I know.
Then, something crazy happened. My body started aching all the time. I didn’t understand it and when you’re in your early teens, how you feel often gets expressed more often than it should. In other words—I complained a whole lot and everybody knew it.
But that accomplished nothing. The pain was still there. My body seemed like it was against me… when really, it was growing for me.
The same can be said for any type of ministry. Often as leaders we feel like emotional & spiritual pains are signs that we’re doing something wrong… when actually the reverse might be true. God wants our pain tolerance to grow, so that we can be used in bigger and greater purposes then where we are now.
It may seem like your students aren’t listening, because they’re sliding back into old habits, but if they’re still attending Youth Group, they’re still listening.
Often others (and ourselves included) have to stumble or stub our toe in the dark in order to realize how badly we need a light at our feet to guide our steps.
Don’t give up.
Be encouraged by that today, friend.
Ironically this post was Perfect for today, such a God wink this is. Today is the first day back to youth and over the past two days I have been praying for the youth group and such. The one thing on my mind is, will THEY be back and will THEY be changed. Even though your post was merely about this, but I realized I need to stop worrying if THEY will be changed and instead I need to ponder on whether not they will see the change in me, especially as a student leader.
Wasnt*