Investing Into Our Teenagers

This morning's sermon at our church was given by the Assistant Pastor who is in charge of Youth Ministries, and his message spoke to me even though I am fast approaching the 30 year mark in my life. He spoke about the priority, purpose and passion of student ministry. Sitting there listening to how teenagers who believe in God are not only faced with a plethora of issues that any other teen is faced with, but how they are also faced with additional issues because of their faith, I began to think back to my own teenage years and how I lived my life from then until now as a direct result of how I was supported, challenged and tested by those around me at THAT time.

I have mentioned before that I went to Sunday school as a young child, but once I got to about the 6th grade, the church I went to had no regular or effective youth group or student services. I didn't see myself identifying with or being able to understand the issues that the younger kids were dealing with, and the issues and studies of the older members were not relevant or too "over my head". The only real influence and modeling I had were my parents, and for me at that age, my parents were the LAST people I wanted to listen to about anything!

I sometimes wonder if I had been given the message then that the youth in my church are given now, would I have had so many struggles the last few years? Would I have been able to find someone else like me to talk to about my faith, and would my church attendance not all but disappeared? If I had been supported and taught as a teenager, would I just NOW be beginning my real spiritual journey? I sometimes have to wonder about those things.

The fortunate thing is that I did have enough basic influence in my life, and I had attended church enough as a child, that no matter how far away from organized church I got, the Holy Spirit never let me get all the way away. Even at my darkest moments within the last year or two, the Holy Spirit was there...pulling at me, whispering to me that my life was not going as it should, that there was more that I could experience and be a part of. Perhaps the Holy Spirit was there all along, even in those lonely teen and college years when I struggled with faith on my own. It must have been, because when I look back now...no one else was. But GOD was. JESUS was. The HOLY SPIRIT always was.

Another thought that struck me during the message was that just as a teen has to deal with many changes as they age, everyone faces similar changes as they grow and walk in their relationship with God. Spiritual maturity in Christians young and old is something that needs to be modeled, challenged, supported and tested in much the same way as we model, challenge and support our teenagers. Even though I am almost 30 years old, and was saved through a camp experience when I was much younger, I still liken myself to some of the younger children in the church when it comes to my knowledge and experience with truly living a Christian life. I may be able to understand and grasp the concepts easier, and I may have the ability to teach myself on my own, but the milestones are the same as I grow in my walk with God.

So in essence, I guess I just want to say that we should definitely be supporting our teen and student ministries, but we should also make sure we are looking to those around us and supporting their growth and spiritual maturity, no matter what their age.

And oh yeah...in case any of the youth from our church read this blog, here is a great link to some info on the Thundercats!