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HOW DO I DEVELOP STUDENT LEADERS?

Ever thought about what would happen to your ministry if you left tomorrow? Would it still have a pulse?

This email is something I hear a lot:

Dear Jonathan,

I thought I was doing a good job with my youth ministry. But then someone asked me for the names of some good leaders who had graduated from my group. I thought about it for a while. I thought of some neat kids, some great babysitters, some kids that came to Bible study every week ... but leaders?

My group just exists. I do the basics every week, but kids just don't seem to be going anywhere. They don't bring their friends often, and if they do, they're terrible examples. They love fun events, but aren't serious about digging into the Word. What am I doing wrong!

Help! -Mark

Mark isn't alone. Many of us ask similar questions. Am I really making a difference? Am I really developing students with a passion for Christ? Where will these students be in five years?

Try something.

Take a blank peice of paper and make three columns. On the top of the left column write CASUAL KIDS. On the top of the middle column write CURIOUS KIDS. On the top of the right column write COMMITTED KIDS.

Years ago, Ray Johnston, a board member here at The Source for Youth Ministry, wrote a curriculum for Youth Specialties' National Resource Seminar. In this workshop he outlined three types of kids: Casual, Curious, and Committed.

    Casual Kids: These students may be visiting for the first time or may be attending regularly. They may be churched or unchurched. These kids may be there because your outreach ministry attracted them or because their parents have bribed (or forced) them. These are kids who have not yet become followers of Jesus. They might be at all the fun events, but the minute they sense a Bible study coming, they dissappear in a flash. If you have a bunch of these kids, don't let it get you down. The great thing is that they are there!

    Curious Kids: These are the students who have started a relationship with Christ and are interested (maybe just a little bit, but still interested) in spiritual growth. They may not be thrilled about a Bible study, but they are curious about what a relationship with God looks like on a day to day basis. They are curious how to live out this life of faith in today's R-rated world, although they don't always show it.

    Committed Kids: Committed students are the ones who are not only serious about their faith, they're ready to make a difference in those around them. They are interested in leadership roles and they want to reach out to their friends.

Okay ... are you ready to take an honest look at your group? If you're up to it -- take your peice of paper and fill in the names of all the students in your youth group. Figure out which column they fit in, and write in their name in that column. Those of you who have just 6 kids, this will be a snap. If you have 250 ... come back to this article in about an hour and a half when you're done.

Now. Which column is the most full?

If the center column is the most full, then you're not alone. Your group is like the average youth group in America right now. A bunch of kids who've made a decision at one time in their life, but aren't that committed. It would be great if we could move these kids to the right!

Some of you might have a number of students in the left column. That's great. I love those kids. But wouldn't it be cool to share Christ with them and move them to the right!

And some of you might have some right column kids - committed kids. Let me ask you: Are you providing opportunities for them to develop their leadership skills and reach out to others?

Whatever the case, the answer you might be looking for is a student leadership program.

Let's look at the average youth group in America - tons of students in the middle column. We would like to move these kids to the right. We'd like them to start using their spiritual gifts, reaching out to others and taking leadership roles. How can we move them right unless we have somewhere for them to move? A student leadership program could be just the thing.

What if you have a bunch of kids in the left hand column - Casual kids. Outreach kids. How do you reach them? Well, what's one of the most effective ways to reach students? OTHER STUDENTS! That's right. Students reaching students.

There's only one of you - and maybe a handful of staff. But how many students do you have? What if each of your students was reaching out to the students next to them in math class, next door to them, or at the locker next to theirs? Think of the outreach potential!

Saddleback's Kurt Johnston describes it like this in my interview with him last year: (CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW)

    "The reason I believe so strongly in Friendship Evangelism ... as flawed as it is ... is because I think big ongoing outreach programs handicap our students in the long run. I don't want them to rely on me, the church, our budget, our facilities, etc. to reach their friends. I want them to see early on that a program doesn't change a life, but a relationship does. If a kid leaves Saddleback and goes to a tiny little church in the mid-west with two students and no outreach program, I want that student to have the understanding that HE is the outreach program. It may not click right now while they're in a big, happening environment, but I'm hoping that we're planting seeds of maturity in their hearts that will reap results when it matters most."

So developing student leaders - developing your right column - can be one of the best ways to do outreach - boosting up your left column. So if you're short on kids in your left hand column, or short on resources to reach the left column, or even if you're short on kids in your right column, developing student leaders might just be the answer you're looking for.

Jonathan McKee is president of TheSourceForYouthMinistry.com and author of the new book "Do They Run When They See You Coming? Reaching Out to Unchurched Teenagers."
(CLICK HERE FOR THE BOOK) Jonathan speaks and trains across the country and provides free online resources, training, & ideas for youth workers at www.TheSource4YM.com


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