If You Feed Them They Will Come (Cont.)
Teenagers need you to feed them with the food of relationship. Yeah, I know. Pretty elemental, right? Not exactly a new insight. Well, hear me out. You see, I’m blessed to get to network and hang out with lots of youth workers and teenagers. I get to see people feeding their teenagers relationship in a healthy way. And I see people feeding their teenagers in an unhealthy way. The difference is pretty powerful.
The Importance of Mentorship
If you want to feed your students a steady diet of healthy relationship, you must be willing to stop trying to be their peer and start being their mentor. Too often in our zeal to open up avenues of communication and intimacy, we think we must relate to students like their friends relate to them. What your students need from you is for you to be an adult. A loving, safe, listening, invested adult, but an adult nonetheless.
If you feed them they will come is backed up by proof. Numerous studies show that teenagers who have a meaningful relationship with an adult are more likely to stay plugged into church long after they leave your youth group. If you create an atmosphere where you and the other youth workers are engaged in the lives of teens, and are playing the role of the significant adult figure, you’ll provide the real relational nourishment kids crave.
The Food of Experience
Teenagers need you to feed them with the food of experience. I’m not talking about the kind of experiences that form the staples of youth programs. Camps, retreats, and weekend conferences are great, and they have a role in students’ spiritual development. But the types of experiences I’m referring to are the ones that will keep students plugged-in to your church (or any church for that matter) long after the camp pastors and worship bands have had their time in the spotlight.
If you feed them they will come. Are you consistently feeding students the types of experiences that will help them personalize and own their faith? If not, why not? Your students need to have their horizons broadened, their worldviews expanded.
And honestly, this doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you take them to serve your community’s poor, sick, and homeless. It happens when you create opportunities for students to talk to others about their faith. And it happens when you take them to other cities and countries. This is the food of experience that radically shapes students’ spiritual journeys.
If you feed them they will come. If you feed them fluff, they might eventually stop coming.
But if you feed kids the meat of the Word, meaningful relationships, and deep spiritual experiences? Then you’ll be growing a vibrant ministry devoted to God and His mission.
This article originally appeared here.
