{"id":32057,"date":"2021-03-23T12:00:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-23T16:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thinkorange.com\/how-to-develop-student-leaders-in-2021\/"},"modified":"2024-01-04T20:48:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T01:48:18","slug":"how-to-develop-student-leaders-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thinkorange.com\/blog\/how-to-develop-student-leaders-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Develop Student Leaders in Your Youth Ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

 Youth ministry\u2019s historical attempt at student leadership tends to lean toward one<\/strong> format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usually, we ask the most faithful attendees to join a leadership group.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 More times than not, that\u2019s code for \u201c<\/span>the scope of your leadership will be relegated to helping our youth ministry be better<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I can be completely honest, our student leadership programs tend to devolve to<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cset up these chairs”<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cfold these t-shirts\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cmake these announcements\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you mention being a spiritual leader to most teenagers and youth leaders, preaching, singing, leading worship and being a missionary immediately come to mind.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By default, we have helped students become better at doing church<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But becoming a leader in an ever-changing culture? That is another story.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Develop The Right Mission<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

So, what world are you fueling your students to lead in?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe we, the church, youth ministry America, have sold a less-than-inspiring, underwhelming story? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if we fuel the next generation to understand how to navigate a world where race, sexuality, equality, financial integrity, politics, education, technology, business, entertainment, and yes, even ministry and the Church are in a constant state of flux?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if we help high school students to develop a worldview that doesn\u2019t see culture as an enemy but their platform?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if we challenge high school students to inject themselves into highly challenging roles and scenarios not only with their faith community but on their respective campuses, in their communities, with their peers?<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if we assign high school students to short-term, high-importance task teams? What if we give them real-time feedback as they experience and learn?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if we provide mentors from non-church-centric spheres of influence who believe in the next generation and their desire to be influential and offer them relevant and practical principles and truths that help shape their worldview and leadership capacity?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if every senior graduated with at least a personal mission statement and three next steps towards the best version of the person God created them to be?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what if we could help them start connecting the dots with their passion, gift set, and their purpose for existence?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are a few places to start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Choose A Format<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We need a better way to develop student leaders. One that doesn\u2019t revolve around stacking chairs, but actually engages a student\u2019s developing brains around the cultural, spiritual, and leadership issues of today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be honest, we also need to engage these students in a way that doesn\u2019t create a competing program or look like yet another new ministry to manage.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how we’ve translated these ideas at\u00a0<\/span>INFLUNSR<\/a><\/span><\/span>. Take these ideas and apply them to your own program, or partner with us for your weekly content and student leadership programming.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identify Values That Count\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Every week, we expound on one of the five choices of the “code of influence” \u2014 our values of student leadership. We believe leadership is a choice, not a position. We think influence is the sum total of thousands of choices made over time, or as we like to say, \u201cInfluence is built in a thousand invisible mornings.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the five choices: <\/p>\n\n\n\n