Why We Do This Crazy Thing Called Student Ministry
In a world where everyone seems to run from teenagers, why do we love running toward them so much? To be fair, some would say it takes a special kind of crazy to want to do this. I mean, most of us are just glad we survived our own teenage years.
If you’ve been around the student ministry of HDC much, you’ve likely heard me share Judges 2:10.
“After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel.” -Judges 2:10
What is so crazy about this statement is where it occurs. We find this right after the death of Joshua who had succeeded Moses in leading the people of Israel and had led them into the land promised to them so many years ago.
These people had seen God do things in real life that we struggle to recreate in movies using our wildest imaginations. The faithfulness of God couldn’t have been missed. The miraculous work of God had been seen over and over and over again.
And yet…a generation later, there came a group, “who knew neither the Lord nor what He had done.”
I don’t know about you, but when I read that it stirs within me such a strong desire to say, “Not again on my watch.” I simply refuse to have this be true of the generations that follow me.
There’s more though.
The story of church history also tells us a hopeful story of teenagers. In fact, every known great movement and awaking of God throughout history came among teens and young adults.
There’s hope there. Hope that we wouldn’t just fight to make sure the next generation knows of the Lord and what He has done, but that He might stir in the next generation an awakening that our world so desperately needs.
And I don’t know about you, but I want to be there when it happens.
For some of us, we want to make sure that the next generation knows of God. Others of us believe and are praying that God would do a work in the next generation that only God can do. Still, others of us have seen God do a personally powerful work in our own lives as teenagers and we long to see the teenagers around us experience the same.
Maybe you fall into one of those camps. Perhaps you fall into all of those camps. Or maybe you fall somewhere in between. Regardless, we’re in it together. We see God doing a work and we want to be a part of what He is already doing among teenagers.
Like firemen running into the fire to rescue those who may be trapped inside, you’ve chosen, like us, to run toward this generation while so many others run from them.
You’ve chosen to be a part of something so much bigger than yourself. Together we’ve locked arms and are willing to go to great lengths to see God glorified in the students we serve. We long to see the world changed as we seek to prepare the next generation to be world changers for Christ.
Whatever your reason or however we managed to talk you into this thing, we’re so glad you’re here and we can’t wait to see how God uses you in the lives of the students you’ll serve.
Thanks for being a part of this with us. You mean more to us than you’ll ever know. It’s an honor to serve alongside you.