Monday, May 5, 2014

Advice to Youth Leaders!



Have you ever struggled to understand what young kids do and think about. Do you wonder why it is so difficult to understand them? I have some advice to give regarding these questions.  

The youth of this world are making decisions that will affect them for the rest of their lives.  Who do young adults turn to when they need help in choosing a life decision? They turn to the individual who are much older and have more experiences.  The most effective way to gain trust from a youth individual is to build a relationship.  You won’t build any type of relationship just through teaching, but it is after the class to where you engage that person on a one to one bases. 

The truth is that God loves us for who we are, but not for what we do.  “Let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth” (1 John 3:18).  This verse is a perfect example of how individuals not as experienced in life need to see love and faith in their elders to understand it in depth.  These kids range from anywhere from 6 grade to 12th grade.  We need to live in their world and by doing this we show them that they are loved.  We show interest in things they like to do.  It is not just a once a week I’ll see you at youth group for an hour.  By going to some of their sporting events, etc… We prove to them that this is much more and that we care. 


This generation is all about change and technology.  Our youth ministries need to stay in tune with the new culture adaption.  We need to be on top of social media and new devices that arise because it is key to have these types of tools in the youth room. 



There is a tremendous amount of hurt and brokenness in today’s world. As a leader in we need to not only hide our feelings in front of these kids, but to be positive and show them that there is much better out there than what they think.  These kids have talents and gifts that we need to help reveal to them.  Everyone can use a helping hand in this world regardless if they want it or not. 

 No one who is young is never going to be old.   


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