Seekers or Followers? Part One

Note: This post started out as a quick thought after talking to a student today that I see on the Saddleback Church Campus on a weekly basis. Before I started writing I did my normal time of praying to God for the right words and thoughts and before I knew it I had a two-part post! This is Part One.  Part Two will run next Tuesday. In the meantime, I’d love your feedback on this please!

Are we working towards turning out a generation of seekers or followers? Ask yourself that question and just let it rattle around in your head for a moment before you answer and before I explain what I’m talking about.

Are you working towards getting your students to truly seek Jesus everywhere and not just at church on the weekend? Or are they just being shown what it is to be a follower?  By follower I mean someone who is just following the crowd he is with at the time. He is there in spirit but his heart is not in what he is doing. Church is something he does on the weekend with his or her friends, but once the weekend is over there is not much talk or thought or mention of Jesus or God in their life until the next weekend when they come back to church.

I guess this is what I mean when I say that students don’t need religion, they need a relationship with God.

When you have a student in a crisis, is God the first call they make or is He an afterthought? Do they have a regular daily quiet time with God and communicate with Him or is their communication time with God just that hour they are in a student ministry service on the weekend? Are they in a small group? If they are in a small group do they just go there each week or do they participate? Maybe they are still at a stage in their walk with God that they are still “baby Christians”. If that’s the case then we need to work towards their spiritual maturity.

Maybe they are at a point where they have lost the passion for God. (Click here to see Steven’s post on this topic) As leaders we need to do all we can to help them work through this time, and once again become a seeker.

Want some tips on how to get your students to be seekers and not just following the crowd? On Tuesday I’ll share what has worked for me in my life and how I translate that to students.