NOW’S THE TIME YOUTH PASTORS!

In the hight of this COVID-19 pandemic, many business are being advised to shut down or limit their staff to just the essential needed to keep the business running. Also impacted by this government mandated temporary shut down are churches. We have all recently seen many churches going the way of live-stream or recorded messages and many more are going the route this upcoming weekend. There have been some really cool, what I call “yay God” moments during this time. I have heard of churches more than double their audience size during a live-stream from what they would have had attending on the weekend. The truth is this shouldn’t surprise us. Many of us can remember the influx of church attendance after the tragic events that unfolded on September 11, 2001. In a time of crisis, people are desperately searching for an answer or comfort, and many turn to the church and to God in those times. Here’s some comfort for you. God is not caught by surprise with any of this, and while things get crazy, the church is primed to advance God’s kingdom further because of the advancements we have made in the digital realm. God is still sitting on His throne and very much in control.

 I have also seen many children’s ministry and student ministries following the example of their church leadership and are creating a digital platform so they can still connect with kids and students during this social distancing time, allowing them to still preach the gospel at an age appropriate level. The next generation constantly has their face glued to some kind of screen and, now more than ever, the church has the ability to meet them where they are. So, youth pastor, if you have yet to take steps to record or live-stream your service, let me encourage you to get on it. Don’t play the catch up game!

Now, with all that being said, right now, in the midst of this pandemic and schools, businesses, and churches shutting down (for now), youth pastors, this is your chance to really make a difference in the lives of your students and invite their parents to be the main spiritual leaders in lives. In my nearly ten years of doing youth ministry, I have experienced the struggle of parents dropping off their teens and expecting you to “make them better Christians”, as if it’s your responsibility. Let’s be real for a second. It is great that there is an environment for teenagers to have a place to call their own and learn about Jesus on their level, but there are 168 hours in a week and you have these kids for maybe an hour a week (that’s if they show up to the church or your youth ministry). So who is teaching them about Jesus and how to live out their faith the rest of the 167?

As I write this, California, New York and now Illinois have all mandated that everyone is to stay put and stay home. Now is the time you should be creating resources or utilizing resources that are already available to place in the hands of the parents to help them be the main spiritual influencers in their kids lives. But, how do you go about doing that is the question right? Here are some suggestions.

• Create discussion questions for parents to ask their kids after they have watched the latest message you have uploaded to social media.

• Create videos to email to parents directly that give them creative ways to talk about what the Bible has to say in light of current events. 

• Inform parents of current issues their kids may be facing and how they can go about having a safe conversation about those topics.

• Give them ideas of what they could do as a family during this time of being at home and how they can make the most of this time given to them.

The list of opportunities here is endless, so get creative with it. 

The greatest thing you as a youth pastor or children’s ministry pastor/director could ever accomplish in your time with these families is making disciples who will make disciples that will impact the family for generations to come. After all, this is what we have been commissioned to do by Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20).

Next generational leaders, I can’t stress this enough: now is not the time to sit around twiddling your thumbs waiting for the pandemic to end and life to get back to “normal.” Satan hasn’t shut down his attack methods on destroying families, which means we have to be all the more intentional with the time that we have.  Now is the time to make an impact on families that will ripple through time. Now is the time to leave a legacy that out lives your life.