In the states, there are some pretty scary statistics about students graduating high school, and leaving the faith. The scariest of them all, is that only 20% of students who were highly churched as teens remain spiritually active at age 29. (1.) Its frightening and suggests that our students were participating in a faith culture and not really owning their faith. Participants can walk away easily, owners take their faith with them.
Helping students own their faith is hard and not something that you have total control over. But there are some traits that tend to accompany ownership, and by adding these things into your youth ministry, it can help cultivate the soil that for ownership to grow.
1.) Leadership: You knew I was going to say this, but its the reason that LeaderTreks cares so deeply about developing students into leaders. Its impossible to be a leader without being an owner. You can’t lead others where you haven’t been yourself and you cannot give what you do not have. Participating in ministry leadership causes students to internalize their faith. Especially when the leadership provides challenges that forces students to rely on God. Use real and challenging leadership experiences to help students own their faith.
2.) Teaching. This isn’t referring to you teaching your students, this is referring to your students teaching each other. Don’t get me wrong, your students need to hear your voice, and learn from a wiser Christ-follower who is farther down the road…BUT, if your students are given small chances to teach, they will begin to own what they are teaching about. Its like math, you can’t teach fractions until you understand them yourself. In the same way, your students can’t teach anything spiritual, until they really understand it. A short devotional, a small group once a month, a prayer before an event; these are opportunities for students to take the lead in teaching. It won’t be smooth, but it will be worth it when you see your students understand and own their faith at a deep level.
3.) Creativity. Its easy for students to become faith mimics. We give them leadership, but we expect them to do it just like we do. We teach them about disciplines like quiet times, but only give them one example for how to have a quiet time. Instead, encourage your students to take creative risks. If you have students on your worship team, spend time with them asking questions that uncover a creative allowance. Encourage them not to just sing 3 songs for worship, but to lead a worship experience that incorporates 3 ways to connect with God other than just singing. When you teach students about the importance of quiet times, have them join you in several creative ways to connect with God…prayer walks, memorization, intentional service, Scripture reading, hope journals, and then have them lead some creative quiet times as well. Help students get outside of Christian culture, and get inside of faith. Demonstrate creativity, and then encourage your students to be creative. It will force them to think of the “why” behind what they do in their walk with Christ.
Helping students own their faith is hard, but its worth it! Try incorporating these into your ministry in order to create a culture of ownership.
1. George Barna, “Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the
Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years.” (www.barna.org)
