EXTREME MAKEOVER: Student Leadership Edition

Group, Jan/Feb 2005 by Caro, Stephanie

Ten years ago I led a workshop on developing students as leaders. I'd just finished covering the profound benefits of student-led youth ministry when a high-profile youth leader looked at me and said, "Yeah, but isn't that just pooling their ignorance-letting students run things? Won't church members wonder what they're paying me for?" I stood there speechless. I had no answer for him.

But now, 10 years later, I know that training young people for leadership roles in my ministry has been the greatest catalyst for deepening their faith, and that youth-led ministry is not adultless ministry. I don't abdicate my leadership role when I recruit and equip young people to do the work of ministry.1

So what are the signs that you might be on the "extreme makeover" short list when it comes to the role teenagers play in your ministry?

* When you sit down to plan a big event, are most of the people at the table over the age of 18?

* Worse, are you often the only person planning your events?

* Do you do most of the prep work (lugging chairs, buying the pizza, wadding up the newspapers, taping down the game lines) for your ministry events?

* Do you continue to embrace "token" youth leadership roles such as youth group president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and so on?

* Do you ever get the feeling you're the only one who wants to talk about this Jesus guy?

If you answered yes to a question, it's probably time for a makeover-here's how to get started.

1. HELP YOUR STUDENTS DISCOVER THEIR SPIRITUAL GIFTS. The simple way to get kids primed for plugging into leadership in your group is to give them each a spiritual gifts inventory.2 Once you've done that, use Saddleback Church senior pastor Rick Warren's SHAPE3 acronym to connect potential leaders with ministry roles. SHAPE is an acronym for Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. Together with your current leaders, identify potential leaders; take time to interview them using the SHAPE filters; then write a brief description of each person using the SHAPE acronym as an outline. After that, you can start matching kids with ministry roles according to their SHAPE.

2. FIND THE RIGHT MIX OF ADULT AND STUDENT LEADERS, THEN LET GO (AT LEAST A LITTLE). I've found a 50-50 ratio of student leaders to adult volunteers in leadership roles works well. I often pair a teenager and an adult for secondary leadership responsibilities. Of course, giving up a portion of your control isn't easy! When you honestly release others to make decisions and lead, you'll have to steel yourself to let go of some control. You move from being the only architect of your ministry to a "lead designer's" role.

You'll need to decide whether you're building your ministry with your comfort in mind (youth-director-based) or with your kids' spiritual growth in mind (student-based). Sure, it's often much easier for me to do ministry tasks myself. But if I do, I shut out my students from growth opportunities. When we allow teenagers to make real plans and decisions, they take ownership, they get excited, they come back, and they bring their friends!

3. RESPOND PATIENTLY WHEN THEIR PLANS OR PERFORMANCES DON'T MEASURE UP. Let me tell you right now, when you give teenagers real ministry responsibilities, things will go wrong. They'll forget what they're supposed to do or act irresponsibly, especially at first. But when you invite kids to be co-designers of your ministry, they may not be sure you mean it. They'll (perhaps unconsciously) test you to see if you'll rescue them. Don't do it! If you keep coming to the rescue, they'll never learn to take personal responsibility for their ministry roles. So if events don't go as smoothly as when you were doing it all yourself, remember two things: 1) everything's a teachable moment, and 2) what's the worst that could happen? Jesus is still coming back!

4. LEARN FROM THE MASTER BUILDER. Student-led ministry is biblical. Jesus sent out 12 of his "students" to spread his message. He didn't hover over them every second; he shared the ministry with his team. What happened? They got excited. Yes, they got off track once in a while (take Peter for example), but Jesus let them suffer the consequences. When the time was right, he gently showed them where they went wrong and set them straight. You could prepare a next-best-thing-to-Jesus-teaching-it-himself Bible study, but your words will never have the impact your kids could have if you allow them to stumble their way through a Bible study they planned themselves.

1 For a great primer on the role and practice of developing student leaders in your ministry, check out Thorn and Joani Schultz' Kids Taking Charge: Youth-Led Youth Ministry (Group Publishing, Inc.). You can take a look at what the book offers by going to www.amazon.com and typing "Kids Taking Charge" into the search function.

2 You can learn a lot by giving your kids a spiritual gifts inventory-get one by calling the Church Growth Institute at 800-553-GROW or by going to www.churchgrowth.org.