Last night was the “meet and greet” night for High School Ministry here at Saddleback Church and I got to meet some new guys in my small group. It was an awesome night and I really have some great students in this group and I’m excited for the new school year.
And then today I had lunch with a former student of mine from my last small group. Sitting and talking with him at lunch and going over some stuff in his life made me think about how we never really leave a student’s life, not if you’re doing small group right. I have a whole new batch of students that God has placed in my care and I’ll do my absolute best to walk along side them and help strengthen their walk with God, to be there for any problems that they open up and share and need help with, I’ll be at sporting events and school plays, and going out of my way to let them know that besides their parents they have another caring adult in their life they can depend on.
But, I’ll also keep the door open to my past students. Just because a student is no longer in your group does not mean that God wants you to end the teaching and role model and mentoring to that student.
I think it’s important to know the role you play in a student’s life as they mature. My role now will be more of a mentor to past students and a couple have asked me if I would mentor them. I think it’s also important to note a couple of points here also.
- I’m a single guy and I have time for this. If your married with kids, don’t sacrifice your family time and make them second. Being single, God expects a little more of me since I have the time.
- If you decide to mentor former students, put it on them to arrange a time to meet and to follow through with this. It’s part of the growing up process and also, they have to want a mentor in their life, more than you want to mentor them.
The bottom line is when you sign on for Student Ministry remember that your job is not always done just because they graduated junior high and went to high school, or graduated high school and went to college.
