We have never had a problem with having enough adults for our Sunday morning program. We've grown our adult leaders at a pace just faster than our ministry is growing. So I've always felt a step ahead in having enough leaders. Even on the weeks we would have some of our core leaders out I would always be able to pull from our sub-leaders who are always willing to step
in last minute. This morning we had all of our normal leaders there, but we were overflowing with students. I should have figured that with school starting back up that I should have got a couple of extra leaders to be there just incase.
It wasn't until I realized we had one entire table of girls that didn't have a leader. I handed the sheet to one of the 8th grade girls and looked at her and said
"you can handle this." I said it with confidence, but was probably trying to convince myself more than her. I walked away praying I hadn't just made a "you're fired" kind of decision. I circulated around the room for a few minutes, but my fear that I made a bad decision caused me to hover back to their table. I pulled a chair up and prepared to join them. I sat down for a few seconds and realized I wasn't needed. The group was leading themselves.
It was in this moment that I realized what youth ministry is really all about. So many times we try to prepare students for future leadership, but then never give them the opportunity. We have structures about how to teach students to lead, but just like learning to swim...sometimes you just have to be thrown in and given a chance to sink or swim. This group of girls were the most attentive group in the entire room. They listened to each other share during each question and prayed for one another.
So if you've ever wanted to know what making disciples out of students looks like...it looks like this...
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