A student ministry is not a student ministry until students start doing the ministry.

It was this philosophy of ministry that my youth pastor had. When he gave away leadership to me, I inherited numerous tasks and responsibilities. Through developmental leadership over the years I now find myself in the place of needing to give my leadership away to others.

What is holding back your ministry from growing deeper spiritually, growing bigger in numbers and overall richer in leadership? It’s probably your lack of empowering others, giving away responsibilities and allowing students to do the ministry that they are capable of doing. When a student has that “Aha!” moment and realizes that they are just as capable to minister to others like the youth pastor, they begin to look at their student ministry through a different lens. The student begins to own the ministry and operate not merely as an attender but as a contributor.

How do you empower your students?

Look over your weekly responsibilities, find tasks you can give to your students so that they have the opportunity to step up and do the ministry they are capable of doing.