In student ministry you get to see all sorts of different stories. Stories that break your heart and stories that energize you like nothing else can. But there is one constant in student ministry that is undeniable, something happens after high school. Statistics are all over the place but the average says that about 75% of high school student in church will leave the church after high school, CRAZY!!! Whys is that? Here is what I have experienced that causes this.
1- They don't know how to take it out of the room. I sit with students every week and pour into them the Word of God, and each week there is a feeling that often much of that is left in the room. I am working harder then ever to try and walk students through how to take what they learn from the Word of God out into their world.
2- They have no evidence. Students need to see an example that shows them not only how to do it but thats its possible and worth it. We can't sit in church and talk about people who have died for the gospel and sing songs about how great God is and then go back into a home where money, school, and sports are all elevated above the gospel. That doesn't makes sense, and makes a student feel like the gospel is a trinket or just a little saying for Sunday mornings. As a parent I want the gospel to make a difference in my home and let my children see how powerful it is.
3 - They aren't invited. I can easily get caught off track and start working on building a program or event that might attract a bunch of students and leave the church behind me. You can see it in so many places that we try an build community, community, community. Here is what happens with an only community driven ministry. You get a bunch of kids with no grounding, they go off to college, and because no one badgers them to come to church in two week, they fall off and are blown away to never return.
I hate it when i see weak seniors go off to college with no idea what is going to happen to them in the first few weeks of college. At some point we need to lead by example for students and show them that grades are not as important as the gospel, that sports are not as important as the gospel, that family is not as important as the gospel. Either this gospel is worth every bit of our lives and nothing less or it is worth nothing and should be thrown away. Choose.
