Again, there are quite a few factors to consider. Maybe you’re relatively new. Maybe you didn’t spend all or most of the time with your graduates over the course of their time in youth ministry. And certainly, you can’t take too much credit or too much blame for the development of your students. Their parents have more to do with their faith development than you. But there are still takeaways when you look at your graduates and see some holes in their spiritual development:
Fine Tune Your Existing Strategy
If you’ve been with your graduates for a few years and see spiritual areas in their lives that aren’t as developed as you like, you might want to make a change in your ministry philosophy. Consider programming and relational approaches that address the specific discipline you find lacking.
Implement A New Strategy
Maybe you are relatively new. Looking at graduates, you see some things that you would like to address. Maybe it’s time to introduce your own strategy, change some things up, and focus on a more comprehensive approach to making disciples. It’s a good occasion to kick off a conversation with your leadership.
Build A Better Bridge To Parents
In a perfect world, you are a resource for parents, supplementing their efforts at making disciples. We all know that it only looks like this in a small percentage of students. To see students leave your ministries as spiritually mature disciples of Christ, you need to have an active partnership with students’ parents. Maybe it’s time to lay out the strategy of being more holistic in your approach to discipleship by building strong, equipping relationships with parents.
While it’s not a perfect science, and while there are a variety of variables, your graduating seniors do offer a glimpse into your youth ministry values. It’s information, data, if you will. The challenge is determining whether or not this data can help you facilitate a more effective youth ministry.
