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Out From Under: preparing kids to leave the shelter of youth group
By Chuck Bomar
It’s that time of year. High school seniors can’t wait to graduate. Every thought about what the next stage of life will bring is filled with wonder and excitement. As they move toward a new stage of life their spiritual health is in there somewhere, but it’s typically just one part. But for us leaders, this should be the only thing on our minds.
It’s rare to find churches that take walking alongside college-age people seriously. Unfortunately this also means few churches have figured out how to transition kids after high school. Most graduates are left to navigate the storms of college-age life outside the shelter we’ve provided for years, and then all of the sudden drop.
I would suggest graduates deserve more time and energy than we’ve given them. I’d also suggest the solution is much more (and more simple) than providing a youth-ministry-on-steroids approach to college ministry or simply trying to get them to attend our Sunday morning church services.
There are endless practicalities we can talk about for transitioning kids from youth group to the adult life in the church. But here I will issue one thing that is crucial for any church that desires to truly help people in this transition.
First Things First - People to People
Leaders have traditionally tried connecting college-age people to the church through some type of program or church service. However, my experience shows this inevitably does the opposite. Of course there are occasional exceptions, but historically we’ve yet to find a program that truly bridges the generational gap. This is because this transition can’t be programmed.
So, first things first. We have to begin thinking outside the box of programs and church services. College-age people have likely been through the hoops of junior and senior high ministries/programs, and now there’s a deeper desire to be connected to the body—meaning people. College ministry is needed in every church, but it looks vastly different than we may initially think.
Shifting our thinking off of programs, ministries, or services that meet on the church campus is crucial for this transition. The role of college ministries is simple: to bridge inter-generational life connection, moving people from student life into the adult life of our churches.
I would go so far to say that this connection has to happen off the church campus. How do we do this? It’s simple. We link people to people. No programming. No budget. We just share the beauty of being connected with older believers to the younger, and encourage older believers to follow through with the commands to disciple the younger (2 Timothy 2:2 / Titus 2:3-4). It’s our relationship with both that serves as the bridge. This means we need to be enveloped in relationships.
Sound simple? Well, that’s because it is. Ministry to people doesn’t have to be as difficult or expensive as we make it sometimes. This is certainly true with college-age people.
The Reality
The hard part is we want to mass produce these connections. Rather than personal connections, it’s much easier to put out a sign up sheet, have a bunch of mentors waiting, and then launch the program. We can at least measure how many sign up. This may make us feel good about ourselves, but my experience shows this is not a sustainable approach.
Leaders who want to help graduates remain connected with the body of Christ need to focus on connecting two people at a time.
You might be wondering how this works in larger churches. To that I say the solution doesn’t change, it just means our jobs will take longer and we need to get more people involved. But it still happens two people at a time. This might seem overly simplistic from an American perspective, but I think from a Biblical one we’d agree it just seems right. No programming and no budget needed. But connection remains and life transition happens.
Article originally written for www.therethinkgroup.org
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