There Is Nothing Like Youth Ministry
I have been blessed to serve full time in Student Ministries for 23 years and one thing I have noticed is that there is nothing like Youth Ministry.
Every single year is new. Students grow and change from young, excitable 6th graders to trying- to-figure-it-out 7th graders to ready-for-the-world 8th graders to nervous 9th graders to flying-under-the-radar 10th graders to stressed-out 11th graders to moving-on 12th graders. Each and every year they are different students, even if they are the same individual people.
Youth Ministry is a beautiful, fertile ground that is an active example of what being the church is all about: an incredible team of leaders investing in relationships with students, getting to know them, walking through the highs and lows, pointing them to Jesus. You feel all the joys with the students and all the heartaches as well. Some grab hold of the Word, some hold back. It’s an emotional and spiritual rollercoaster, but in the end, it is all about relationships and the Good News of Jesus. You plant the seed that HE is the main thing and pray that it will take root as they move on; that they will continue to grow and go and make disciples.
Leaders. Parents. Students. So many different faces of Jesus. Intertwined for a season to try to navigate this life and follow Jesus together. There is nothing like Youth Ministry. It is a reflection of what our whole life should be: groups of people coming together to do life together. Different age groups, in the Word, striving to follow Jesus, and sending people out to make disciples.
Oh wait. There is something like Youth Ministry. It’s called the Church. It’s amazing, isn’t it?
Michelle Paquette, Director of Student Ministries