Guide By The Side


Mark Shaner - March 18, 2022

It's not enough anymore to just know students' names and then minister to them. We need to know their pains, their struggles, their joys and their environment. We can impress from a distance, but to have any eternal impact in a student's life it must be up close and personal. It's not good enough to be "the sage on the stage" - we must be "the guide by the side".

If the numbers at your youth meeting have decreased, then it's a golden

      opportunity to disciple students at a level you couldn't do before.

We are called to follow the example of Jesus who spoke to the crowds, but the message that has carried on over 2,000 years is because he intentionally discipled a few. One of the results of the last two years is many of our Youth Ministries diminished in numbers and as we think of those who are not in the room, we miss those who are in the room. For many of us we can now do relational discipleship with a few as Christ intended. In a way where often, more is caught than taught. I Corinthians 11:1 says "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ"

In larger churches it was always about having many adult volunteers who would lead small groups and do life with a few students why the Youth Pastor / leader created the environment and spoke to the crowd. But I always knew that we could impress from a distance, but impact happened up close. If they're not impressed then they might not come, but if that is all we do then we are truly missing the message and the commission of Jesus.

Therefore, I and many of my volunteers would intentionally disciple a few. For me it was every Tuesday morning at 6:00 am during the school year with six guys that I intentionally discipled. Over 34 years of serving in the church there was always anywhere from 3 to 8 guys that I was discipling and each of these are leaders today in the life of their churches and communities today. I would dare say the biggest fruit of 34 years of ministry. We are called to be so much more than a sage on the stage, our true calling is to be a guide by the side, equipping the next generation to do the work of ministry.

It's our time to take students to a deeper place than we ever have before - they are hungry for so much more than to be entertained, you can't keep up with the world's entertainment anyway. So, give them something real and authentic, the Way of Jesus. Be intentional in the way of Jesus - it's time.

And by the way, make sure you have someone you are following in the way of Jesus, while you do that for your students!

 

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