There are some things that I desire from all staff members in my student ministry. Here are ten principles I desire (not necessarily in any order) for every staff member (volunteer or paid) to live by as they serve in our student ministry.
My desire is for you to:
1. Love God. I want a person who authentically loves God every day. There is not a need for an extremely gifted person who seems to only live a life of religious routine. This may sound harsh, but I want you to truly know and love God and love working with the teens, God has entrusted us with.
2. Live a life of faith. I want you, as you are working with our students, to model walking with the Lord in true faith, by stepping out in ways that don’t always make sense to our human minds.
3. Be a true spiritual leader. In the church, we call ourselves “spiritual leaders,” so I want you to actually lead in spiritual things. Teens don’t need police officers to watch them and making sure they behave correctly. They and I need you to be spiritually focused and spirit led in interacting with them.
4. Know and love Scripture. I want you to be in Scripture regularly, interacting with it, and seeking to know it better. Our entire Christian faith stems from the truths of Scripture, and youth staff should seek to know it for themselves and for the teens you are leading spiritually.
5. Avoid behavior management. I desire you to be more concerned about the spiritual condition of our kids than them having proper or improper behavior. I want you to witness, regularly, when their heart’s right, the behavioral aspects come naturally.
6. Hang with kids. Relationships are started at youth group, but built outside of that time. I desire you to spend as much time with kids outside of weekly gatherings as possible, without compromising your family or personal time often.
7. Know the big picture. I want you, regardless of the age-stage you are working with, to realize that your branch in this ministry, as vital as it may be, is just a part of a life-long discipleship process of the individuals you are leading. Our ministry isn’t the end, but simply a means to a much greater end (Philippians 1:6) for every student we lead.
8. Integrate into families. Having relationships with kids is great, but getting to know and love their families is far better. We are assistant coaches. I want you to find ways we can positively reinforce what mom and dad is trying to instill at home.
9. Force thought. I desire you to force our kids to think, not just give them the answers. Far too many high school grads have been spoon-fed their entire lives, never being forced to think through their faith on their own. This is detrimental, and a major cause of grads detaching from church. Encourage them to challenge the process and base their answer off the truth that is the Word of God.
10. Be teachable. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to teach someone who is unteachable. I define a teacher as a constant student who has learned a lesson worth passing on. I need you to understand that this is the means by which the Lord brings us all to maturity (1 Peter 5:1-2; Ephesians 4:11-16).
Hope I helped!!
pg
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