A Year with High School Ministries

Holy moly I just finished up a year volunteering in high school ministries, and goodness did I love it and learn a lot.

All the grades of kids who were in senior high this year I had as students in junior high. It was quite an experience seeing kids through these ministries and seeing them grow into young adults. Not only that, but we also had a number of families join the church in the past couple of years, and they’ve students have been great additions to the group. It’s been crazy to put myself back in these students shoes, and deal with very different questions through the years.

I’ve learned that I can speak into these students lives from my past experiences, while also learning from what’s happening in their lives, and doing my best to help them. The head youth pastors for both ministries are so important to this process, asking them questions, and keeping them up to date with students activities and prayers has been so meaningful. The youth pastors are amazing leaders at my church, not only when I was a student but also now leading our leadership team, and so much more behind the scenes.

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated the seniors graduating from the ministry. In fact, I was part of it as a student five years ago, here’s my group of seniors who celebrated that night. The guys wanted a “serious” picture, and I *kinda* cooperated. This is such an emotional time for not only the students but the leaders as well, as we say goodbye to students and they step into a new chapter of their lives.

So last night us leaders had our leader celebration, a time to hang out together, celebrate our successes for the year, and socialize. We went to Topgolf and enjoyed food together. I’ll add that it was my second time there but I got a score of 112. The twelve of us spent weekends with the students, nearly every Tuesday and other times as well through the year, and we loved it!

Long term volunteer commitment like youth ministry has been great for me. I get to give back to the ministries that have meant so much to me. Student ministries are so important in churches, from middle school to college honestly. See if you can get involved with one of these kinds of ministries at your church. Whether it’s as a volunteer junior high leader, or an outside mentor, or just a food coordinator if your church does college lunches, or something else, these ministries matter!

I don’t say this all to brag about my work, I saw it to put a spotlight on this ministry as a whole and to give insight into what finishing a year looks like.

So here’s cheers to 5 years in student ministries leadership and a decade at my church, GracePoint. Thanks to all who have been a part of it.