This Ain't Your Daddy's Student Ministry

     What a great time it is to be involved in student ministry. Over the last several years, God has been stirring my heart and I have felt like there must be more to student ministry than what we were doing. For far too long, student ministry has consisted of planning activities and camps, having 5th quarters and eating school lunches, putting on spectacular Wednesday night services and hoping that small group leaders were doing what they were expected to do. I have felt like there must be more to what God had called me to. I have a passion for penetrating the home with the Gospel of Christ. I was even a victim of lying to parents and telling them that I wanted to help them disciple their child, and in doing so I would have activities planned at the church almost every night.

     My thoughts began to change when I had my first child. I began to see that my number one priority was to disciple my own little girl. I felt that if I were truly doing that, then maybe I would be an example to other parents and they would disciple their children. But then as she got older and my second daughter was born, I realized how difficult it was to disciple without support, and how little support there was out there. I realized that I was falling into the trap of trying to "programize" discipleship with my girls, I'm a student pastor, programming is what we do best! But it is not the most effective method! (Thank you "Simple Church!")

     About four years ago I went to a student pastors conference that was hosted by my mentor, Larry Lawrence at FBC Jonesboro, Ga. In this conference Steve Wright talked about his new book, "Rethink." As he talked everything began to fall into place for me. There was one fact that Steve said that shook the framework that I had built my ministry. I am not sure why it had never occurred to me. The average Christian Student who is highly engaged in student ministry will spend on average 3-4 hours a week doing "ministry related activities." That leaves approximately 53 awake hours a week to spend with family. There is no way we, as student pastors, can effectively disciple students when we just see them 7% of the week. So since that conference I have been on mission to figure out from Scripture how I can minister to students the way that God has called me to.

   This brings me to my excitement. Family ministry seems to be catching on throughout the student ministry circles. I have read more books, blogs, and articles about how we can teach and resource parents to disciple their children. Most importantly, as I have began a new ministry, I have had parents asking for help on how to disciple their own children! It seems as if daily someone has new has ideas on how to reach the families of students.

     The future of Student Ministry is bright! The days ahead are exciting! I honestly look forward to seeing what student ministry will look like in 5 years! Good news! This ain't your daddy's youth ministry! It is so much better!