You are here: Home / Archives for college

Moving On to College

May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The end of the school year means a time of transition for eight grade students to high school and a time for high school seniors to move on to college. This transition time has been a concern of mine for a couple of years now. I don’t think we do enough on the hand off, especially in high school ministry. We need to move the goal post back a few yards and realize that just because high school is over we’re not done with these students. We need to help them transition to college ministry or often times with students who move away to college, we need to help them find a new church to attend. I just read a great blog by Kurt Johnston and Josh Griffin on this subject and they bring up some great points. This is a must read article. Click here for their thoughts.

One of the problems we have is getting students to move on from a ministry they love, especially your “core” kids. The ones that are at every service and event you have. I think they have a big problem making the move for several reasons. First off they are going from a ministry where everyone knows them to one where they are unknown.  They go from being the big fish in the small pond to being the small fish in the big pond. They are stepping out of their comfort zone. If you have a student who hates change more than the Amish this is really a problem.

We need to get students plugged into college ministry programs before they get out of high school. If your student small group is composed of all seniors, get them signed up as a college small group so they can get to know the small group leaders for college ministry and the college ministry leaders can get to know them.

We need to get college ministry leaders to attend summer camps and begin building relationships with outgoing high school seniors. I almost think we need a separate summer camp just for this!

If you have students moving out of the area to go to school, help them find a church close to their college. Don’t wait for them to leave and do it on their own, chances are unless they are really strong in their walk with God they won’t follow through. Spend some time helping them research the area and the churches there so you can find one that closely follows your beliefs. If you know of previous students in that area, connect the students together so they can know someone there before they move away.

Follow up! Keep in contact, make sure they know you’re there to help and advise them and pray like crazy for them.

Filed Under: Spriritual Life, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , ,

Are you thinking “you” big or “God” big?

September 25, 2012 by 1 Comment

I’m in a very transitional season of life. I’m in my last year of my undergraduate college career, which means after Spring semester, I’ll be done with school and looking to find a career. I know that career will be something in youth ministry, but I don’t know where God wants me yet. I can stay in my current church, where I know the culture, the context and the students, or God could call me somewhere else to break me out of my comfort zone.

As a bit of a control freak, I’m not a big fan of not being in control of my life. Despite this, I have given my future completely over to God, and I’ve thought that there are 2 things that could happen over the next year: 1) God will lead me in a particular direction with clarity, or 2) I will need to make a decision on my own and glorify God through that decision.

In my mind, this mindset was HUGE. For someone who like to be in control of things, this not knowing where my life is headed for the next year is a big deal. So for me to not worry about it seemed like a big step for me…

…until 2 days ago.

God really opened my eyes and showed me that I’m still not thinking big enough. I’ve opened myself up to his plan for my life, but I was still subconsciously putting a limit on what I would let him do. I had a mold that I wanted God to pour into, but God wanted to break that mold.

Question: What are you thinking big about that you could let God make even bigger?

Filed Under: Cool stuff, Spriritual Life Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

The difference in teens over 30 years

March 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Then vs Now: How Things Have Changed from 1982 to 2012
From: BestEducationDegrees.com

It’s amazing to me how much has changed in a matter of 30 years. Some good change, some not so good, but this should help us as youth workers realize how fast things change and that we need to stay up to date with culture.

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Too Old, Too Soon; Too Young, Too Long

February 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment

If you’re a junior high youth worker, be sure to check out this post from Kurt Johnston, the student ministries pastor at Saddleback Church. His post is more JHigh specific, but if you’re a high school or college youth worker, this could give you some insight into what will be coming your way in the next couple of years. Excerpt below; follow the link at the bottom for the whole thing.

Do me a favor and re-read the title of this post one more time. I believe it accurately states the current adolescent journey.
For those of us who work with junior highers, it presents a unique opportunity (challenge):
How do we help young teenagers hold onto childhood/youthful innocence while adequately preparing them for young adulthood in our culture?

(Read more)

Filed Under: Culture, Repost, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Getting High School Students Ready For College

January 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Are your high school seniors ready for college? I’m not just talking about emotionally and financially, I’m talking about spiritually as well. In the past week I’ve had two of my high school small group guys text me that they are concerned if they are “ready” to go away to college. They are concerned that once they get away from home, family, church and their small group friends that it might be hard for them to resist the temptation of parties and girls and everything else out there in the world.

I think at first the thought of going away to college was awesome…and then reality set in and the fear of the unknown took over. In a nutshell, here’s what I told them:

  • When you move away to college one of the first things you need to do is find a new church  that’s close to your college or dorm. Start attending right away. Don’t lose your weekly connection to worship. I even offered to help them find a new church.
  • Find a college ministry program and get involved with that just like they got involved in the high school ministry now.
  • Once you find a church, look for a small group to get involved with. Remember, we’re better together!
  • We’re going to spend the next nine months helping them build confidence in their faith and in their ability to resist temptation.
  • I reminded them that even though they might be moving away, I’m just a text or a phone call away if they need to talk. Just because they have moved on from high school ministry, they are still an important part of my life and I’m here for them. So are their other friends in their current small group.

Any change can be scary, especially one that involves as drastic of a change as moving to another state and away from your friends and family. But remember this…God is with you everywhere. He will be there for you there just like he is here. Pray about the change and ask God for help and guidance.

I’d love to hear your suggestions on this subject as well!

Filed Under: Spriritual Life, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , ,

Following up with former students from your small group

January 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Matt: Just because your students have graduated high school, does that mean your responsibility as their leader and mentor has ended? My answer to that is NO! Last night I spent some time talking to one of my students who graduated last year. I’ve watched Shea continue to grow in his faith and just become on fire for God over the past few months. He recently was chosen as a “roadie” for Invisible Children. This is an organization that Shea has become passionate about since returning from a mission trip in Africa last year. I have another former student who is now a co-leader of a high school group with a friend of mine. Parker was always the “pastor” in my small group and the guys knew they could talk to him about anything, and I used to love to watch him pray with his friends. Some of my former students have gone off to college and moved out of the area. It was great seeing them over the Christmas holiday recently. I’ve lost contact with a few of them and I really want to spend some time seeing if I can reconnect.

God did not place us in these students’ lives to just be there for three of four years and then forget about them. Unfortunately some of these students have experienced situations like that all their lives, parents or other adults coming in and out of their lives. I don’t want to be just one more adult who disappoints them. If your students have gone off to college, help them find a church in the area where they are moving. Keep in contact by text or e-mail, let them know you still care. Going off to college in a new town and leaving all your friends behind can be scary, so let your students know you are a constant in their life and they can still come to you for help and advise.

Steven: One of the hardest things I have to do as a junior high small group leader is let my boys move on to high school. I get super attached to my groups after 2 years, but that’s all the time I have with them. But the good thing about this is I still get to see them around the church or at other places from time to time. Unlike having seniors graduate, my guys are still around and I can see them and keep up a relationship with them.

One of the coolest things I’ve had the pleasure of doing in several years of ministry is building up mentoring relationships with a select few of my small group guys. I say “select few” because there are definitely some that just click better with my personality, or they have experiences that match ones I’ve had in the past, or there’s just more effort put into the relationship. Even though they’ve moved on from my ministry, I still get to see them once in a while and be a guide for them in life. This does 2 things:

  1. Eases some of the difficulty in only having 2 years to minister to them as junior highers
  2. Encourages continued growth from multiple sources – their past and present small group leaders

With this does come a bit of tension. Even though it’s great for students to get help in as many ways as possible, I don’t want to overstep my boundaries and take away from that student’s relationship with their current small group leader. Luckily I’ve passed my former guys on to someone that I consider a friend and he keeps me informed of their spiritual lives and things that happen, but I never want him to feel like I’m taking away from his time with the guys.

I would encourage any leader who’s in youth ministry for more than a couple years to consider hanging on to a student or 2 and continue a mentoring relationship after their “official” time in your ministry has passed. It will benefit both of you, and it’s a way to show the love and leadership of Christ.

Question: How do you stay connected to students that have passed through your ministry? Tell us here.

Filed Under: Mentoring, Small Groups, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Do I Need College Education In Youth Ministry?

December 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Interesting post by Phil Bell about whether it’s necessary to have a college education if you’re a youth worker. I think a lot of people would disagree with his viewpoint, but he definitely lays out a lot of good points. Check out a snippet below, then head over to Phil’s blog for the full post.

Just last week, a couple of youth workers and myself were asked this question on twitter:

Anyone have info on the importance of a college education for a career in YM?

I gave a quick answer at the time, but here is a slightly longer answer…

1) Yes and No: If you are in full or part-time paid ministry I would say “yes”. If you are a volunteer my answer is “no”. However, I would challenge you to educate yourself and understand God’s Word, youth culture, and ministry skills as best as your time allows.

2) College Gives Greater Theological Grounding: Being in full-time ministry, I have found that college forced me to get grounded theologically and gain valuable hermeneutical skills to teach and apply the Bible. I am not sure I would have forced myself otherwise?

3) College Gives Greater Youth Ministry Skills: No matter how much many would debate the value of theoretical college over practical real world youth ministry, there is still a great value in studying the “how’s and why’s” of youth ministry.

Filed Under: Repost, Youth Ministry Tagged With: , ,

What we’re doing in youth ministry this summer

June 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Steven: Summer is quickly approaching. For me, summer is already here, and it feels great to have more time to relax and recharge after a busy semester of school. Out here in California, a lot of our students in junior high and high school are also getting ready to break for the summer, so my co-leader and I have been thinking about what we want to do with them over the summer.

As a student ministry, Saddleback Church typically starts and ends their small groups along with the school year. Start around September, end sometime in June. For my group, I realized that we probably need more time with them this year than just a 9-month school year. A few weeks ago we asked the boys if they would be interested in meeting through the summer instead of taking a few months off, and we got a unanimous YES. It was great to see that they had bonded and didn’t want to go three months without seeing the guys.

With that being said, we do want to allow some “break time” with the summer. We normally meet in one of the boys’ house, so we’ll meet somewhere else to give them a break from the mayhem and chaos that happens every Tuesday night. We’re also going to keep our discussions and lessons a bit lighter. We realize that a lot of the guys will be out on vacations and other commitments, so summer attendance will be lower. We’d rather wait to do the heavier lessons when we have more of the guys available. Lastly, we want to be more intentional about spending time together outside of small group. Going to the beach, going to spontaneously grabbing a bite to eat, going to baseball games are all things that keep the group connected, but aren’t as heavy during a normal break time.

I’m so excited for what the next year has in store for us, and I’m just as excited for this summer to be able to continue the relationships we’ve already formed.

Matt: This year my group was comprised mostly of seniors who are graduating which means this is our last week with them during the “official” small group time. Our guys have asked us if we can continue to meet during the summer. I love that! It’s a sign to me that they get this whole small group thing and what a relationship with God is all about. But I want to change some things during the summer. First, I’m not going to lead, I’m not going to prepare a lesson each week. I want them to do that. I want them to pick a couple of leaders and each week, have one of them put together a lesson. That’s how its done in adult small groups, might as well get them ready for that. Second, I want to spend time with them outside of the normal small group time. I want to spend time doing fun stuff, movies, baseball games, beach time, etc. I want it to be random time, but also intentional time spent together.

During the fun stuff though, don’t forget to add some Jesus time in there. Show them what its like to incorporate Jesus into all areas of their lives. Use different events during the summer to highlight different lessons, for instance on the Fourth of July, have them do a lesson on freedom and use biblical passages that highlight freedom. On hot days, use that time to talk to them about being modest in how they dress, this is really important if you have a group of female students, but sometimes guys need that same lesson.

I want to use the summer to prep them for next year. I want them to be ready to start a college age small group and bring all the necessary skills with them so they can hit the ground running. I want to send my seniors off into the world as Godly young men, guys that can be a great example of what it means to live your life as a Christian and be an example to others.

Question: If your small group is going to continue to meet during the summer, what steps are you doing to take full advantage of the time?

Filed Under: Youth Ministry Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,