High School Students leading younger students may be a key to retention

I had a long time ministry friend, who happens to be a senior minister, ask me one day, “why don’t High School students want to be part of youth ministry anymore?” I had a few ideas that I shared with him about generational shift, the future of youth ministry, and our big vision in youth ministry. Those are all the philosophical and cultural reasons why, but the idea that got the most traction with him was when I said, “High School students who grew up in the church are tired of sitting on the sidelines, they have ideas, talents, and want to be part of the solution, they love their church and their group as well.” He is a coach like me so I finished with, “Its like we teach them how to win the ball game and then go out and play it for them. No one would want to be on that team.” It clicked, he got his son involved with leading their Middle School group at church, he loved it and it rejuvenated his desire to be part of the student ministry again, so much so that my friend is making student involvement part of his youth pastor’s job description.

For a long time we have tried to entertain kids in hopes of keeping them off the street. In one era that was a noble task, and for the most part we did well at it. The issue today has nothing to do with keeping students “off the streets” they are doing that all on their own. They know that if they want to succeed in life they need to be involved in all sorts of activities from sports, to service groups, to clubs, to bands and choirs. They aren’t looking for entertainment, they are looking for things that will make them better leaders, better people and help them get into college. So it is no wonder that opening up serving opportunities would be a way to help High School students stay engaged.

Now most of us know that our numbers are going to down all over the church. Student Ministries are reporting the lowest numbers they’ve seen in decades. We can blame culture and morality and social media. We can fight with the travel teams, theater performances, pushing our kids to “choose one or the other…Jesus should be a priority.” Or we can remember that our ministry is not the only game in town and is not the only place God is moving and working.

When we realize that an opportunity develops for us, the chance to develop kids instead of entertain them. Which means we begin to train our High School students to minister to our younger students so they can develop their abilities and have ownership of the group. This approach gives us an opportunity to minister to our High School students without “loosing” them to the soccer teams or band camps. Mainly because they see the developmental opportunity for themselves and then stay because they experience the growth from serving others, not just themselves.

If you want to retain High School students in your youth ministry then your best approach is not to compete with their extra curricular actives or make them feel guilty for “not prioritizing Jesus.” Instead we give them what they are looking for an opportunity to be in the game. When High School students own the ministry, they make it a priority and show that to the younger students. The great part about that is you don’t have to be the “coolest person” in the room, like we ever were, you let the High School kids be that. It takes the pressure off of you and let’s the younger kids get a glimpse of what their future could look like. High School students are the best way to attract Middle School students to your ministry. MS kids want those relationships and you can provide them.

One of the greatest youth ministry moments I ever saw was a ministry that prioritized High School students ministering to Middle School students. I was visiting a large church on a Wednesday night and heard that their MS ministry was dynamic but hadn’t ever seen it in person. As the night began I noticed that there were police cruisers setting up on the road and I ask, “Will there be that many students?” It was quickly confirmed that yes there would be a lot of student, nearly 700. It was like going to a ballgame or a concert. As I watched the night progress, those 700 students were broken down into groups of 5 or 6 and each of those groups was led by a High School student. It was a feat of logistics to get them into all those groups. Talking with he High School students later, I asked why they wanted to be part of this ministry. They said it was because they loved helping the younger students work through issues they had when they were in Middle School. Another leader asked if they felt like they missed out not having their own program on Wed. nights, and one of the High School students said, “I don’t think I would come to a High School program on Wednesday night, I do this because I want to help, I have plenty of other things to keep me busy.”

That was it. That simple. If a ministry with 700 Middle School students weekly (plus 200 HS leaders that help them) can manage it, then those of us with less students surely can do it as well. If you want to minister to students and help develop them into leaders for the rest of their lives, then invest in your High School students so they can lead your younger students and watch your ministry be transformed.