2. Don’t show frustration.
You may disagree with me on this, which is fair game. But I don’t want to show my frustration because I don’t want to put up a wall. For a student who shows up but isn’t interested in growing, it might not take much to make them stop coming all together. Take your frustrations to God. Don’t take it out on students. Be graceful and patient.
3. See the relationship as the reward.
Next, remember that you may not be seeing a ton of fruit in teenagers. But what you can do is build a solid relationship despite the lack of growth. Enjoy your students. See the relationship as the ends, not the means.
Who knows? The growth may come during their sophomore year in college, or when they get married. If you have laid the foundation of real, meaningful relationship, you may very well be the person he or she calls when they’re ready to get real about faith.
The adage is true: You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. But here’s the funny thing: Horses still need water. And if we know where water is, there’s no reason to ever stop leading teenagers to it. One day, they’ll take that drink. And I want to be there when they do. I’ll bet you do too.
This article about how to disciple a teenager originally appeared here.
