[skywalker]

Anybody got any hints about how to get HS students excited about missions? I'm actually a member of the YG but I'm also part of the SALT team (the student leaders who plan and run YG with my Youth Pastor). The one thing that irritates all of us on the team is that no one seems interested in doing anything for God. They hardly even listen to the 5-minute talks my YP does, and they don't quiet down for worship, which is bad with 100+ people! If we could just get them excited about something for God it would the biggest breakthrough in years!!!
Thanks

[Phil]

Originally posted by skywalker
Anybody got any hints about how to get HS students excited about missions? I'm actually a member of the YG but I'm also part of the SALT team (the student leaders who plan and run YG with my Youth Pastor). The one thing that irritates all of us on the team is that no one seems interested in doing anything for God. They hardly even listen to the 5-minute talks my YP does, and they don't quiet down for worship, which is bad with 100+ people! If we could just get them excited about something for God it would the biggest breakthrough in years!!!
Thanks

Talk with your YP about it..
For missions...
explain how there are *tons and tons* of examples in the Bible how missions is really the heart of God. "To know Him, and to make Him known to all nations"...
Perhaps you could collect money and sponsor a missionary monthly. Maybe you could bring one or more missionarys into the YG and let them talk to the YG

[Dice]

skywalker: The key to youth ministry is relationship and relevance. Teenagers come from a million different worlds with a million different problems, you have to get to know each one (if not all the youth leaders personally knowing each one well, then at least have each kid have a good relationship with at least ONE of the youth leaders) To know them, show them love, know their problems and give them answers and support. It's good to give a straight message, cause it may show them how something applies to them where they didn't realize it before. But it's far greater to show them the relevance of God's word on a personal level. This excites them and encourages them to seek God on their own time.

It's good to get along with the youth and be a friend to them, but not to get "buddy-buddy" and put yourself on the same level as their peers. Meaning that while you do talk to them and yeah even hang out with them and stuff, always in everything direct them to God. Not just by telling them to pray about it (though its good in everything to tell them to pray about it) but by always, always speaking God's word in relevance to whatever is going on, and encouraging them to look into God's word in the same way. They need to learn the relevance of God and His word to every part of their lives before they can be excited about it and want to act, and that only happens when you get to know them and their lives and show them how God's word is relevant and living and active in their lives. And by having fun with you while you are always in God's word, they see how it can be fun.

And if you truly, honestly reach out in a real, radical, amazing love, and show no partiality between any one of them or any groups of them (it's common to have cliques in 100+ groups) then they'll want to listen to you. God is love, and if we do anything without love our works are as good as nothing, but if we do everything in love, then you will see God move through everything.

And after you get a good base of all this and they are listening. Through teaching them it's important to make sure they know there is no grey area, that there is no lukewarm. That they are either living for God or they are not. And then to show them the examples of how we are blessed when we do, and how everything goes wrong when we don't. How living for God isnt something they will be ready for, they wont know how, they wont be strong enough, they wont have any experience with it - But when they step out by faith reguardless of this, God empowers them. How VITAL it is to know God's word and to seek Him everyday, otherwise it is impossible to stand up to the challenges we face. And offer them many chances to serve God and love others, a missions trip is good, but to get a heart to serve on that big of a scale they need to first gain a heart for it on a smaller scale. Give them opportunities to serve others, and to work together. Don't just tell them God love them and wants to use them, SHOW THEM.

Teach them the importance of unity, how unity isnt about talking when spoken to, but it's about reaching out in love. How true unity happens when we let go of everything else in life so all we have to hold on to is God and eachother, and that if we are living for God as we should, we should automatically be in perfect unity. Not only that but how we are all born of the same spirit, while we serve different functions we are closer than family because we are bound by spirit not by flesh, and there is no shame among you, only love and forgiveness. And in fact force them to be unified somewhat, don't just tell them to greet somene they don't know for the first 5 minutes (I assume you already do that, it's a common practice) but break up into groups of 5 people they don't know or don't know very well, and share and pray for each other.

As for worship go ahead and do a message on worship. Really tell them just how holy God is, how glorious and on high He is and how much He is actually worth it, how much He humbled himself to become a man, how much more He did to take on our sins (oh all the sick stuff we do) as if responsible for them Himself, how much He went through not just leading up to the cross, but within His death where He was separated from His heavenly father, somethign we can not comprehend. And all because He loves us so much. Then point out if we aren't worshiping durring worship, we are saying by our actions that He is not worthy of worship. And then even from there go on to tell them how we must worship in Spirit and in Truth, and how Romans 12 shows us this is a life of love and servanthood.

Now, I'm not a big youth pastor, I'm 18 and the most I lead (or help lead with 4 other teens) is a Christian Club at the local high school. But we are friends with several youth pastors (esspecially sicne we started working with all of them in town for this huge thing), have talked to them about a lot of stuff, learned some stuff from them, been complimented on what we've been doing, ect. Plus I've been to several youth groups, seen what works, seen what doesn't work. I've seen what has worked and what hasnt worked on me in the past, and I've seen what has worked and what hasn't worked within this Christian Club we lead. Not to metnion I've been to a couple leadership conferences which helped a good amount. Overall I can sum all this up into two things...

1) Love radically
2) POUR the unfiltered, uncensored truth into them in everything.

[Phil]

Wow! That was great...

[1twelve2]

I agree with Phil...!

Mr McB, I'm also part of an on-campus ministry at our high school, and I'm one of the leaders (pres. of the club)... I looked into leadership conferences, and they're all miles and miles away from me. Do you know of any near the Philadelphia area? What's the best one that you went to?

[timio]

Well, the youngun's are restless again. They're organizing against me, and it's getting really frustrating...

I have an idea to teach them a lesson about loving your neighbour as yourself and not talking about people behind their backs, but that'd just be out of spite, and we don't want that to happen now...

So anyways, just pray.. There's a sleepover next thursday with them, and they were wondering if they could pull pranks on the first person to fall asleep over the age of 14, while looking directly at me... I'll get them though... hehehehe...

Tim

[YWING85]

Originally posted by timio
Well, the youngun's are restless again. They're organizing against me, and it's getting really frustrating...

I have an idea to teach them a lesson about loving your neighbour as yourself and not talking about people behind their backs, but that'd just be out of spite, and we don't want that to happen now...

So anyways, just pray.. There's a sleepover next thursday with them, and they were wondering if they could pull pranks on the first person to fall asleep over the age of 14, while looking directly at me... I'll get them though... hehehehe...

Tim

hmm.....sleepovers...wit church kids.....scary thought

[Phil]

Originally posted by timio
Well, the youngun's are restless again. They're organizing against me, and it's getting really frustrating...

I have an idea to teach them a lesson about loving your neighbour as yourself and not talking about people behind their backs, but that'd just be out of spite, and we don't want that to happen now...

So anyways, just pray.. There's a sleepover next thursday with them, and they were wondering if they could pull pranks on the first person to fall asleep over the age of 14, while looking directly at me... I'll get them though... hehehehe...

Tim

I suggest keeping a roll of duct tape very close by that night.

[timio]

We did something really interesting at it:

1:30 am trip to the grocery store for an ingrediant hunt for ice cream sundaes. I gave them clues and they had to go find the ingredient.

That was fun.

I only got 1.5 hours of sleep, but that's ok.... maybe....

Tim

Hey, guess what? I'm in Jr. High, have an awesome YG, and Phil is absolutly right! Our pastor and leaders have been awesome to us kids, showing us how to live our daily lives, build closer friendships, spend time with our God, and learn to have true hearts of worship. Thanks, everybody!

Yep. Take them on a missions trip. My YG is going to Mexico this summer. Help them do thier own fundraisers, etc. (I know "fundraisers" is a mean word for youth leaders!) All the kids in my YG are pumped!