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Can the Students in Your Youth Group Lead?

Teens serving in the local church is a good thing, but recently as I’ve been involved with some older students, I’ve realized that the church doesn’t really expect much from them. We generally ask them to do one of a few particular activities:

1. Serve with younger students (usually as an assistant because they can’t be the leader).

2. Play in the band or run the technical equipment.

3. Do some on-stage learning.

But when I think about some of those things, they really aren’t leadership. They are serving and that is what God may have called each of them to do, but it’s not the nitty gritty of leading other leaders to get the job accomplished. When was the last time that you saw a teenager leading anyone older than them?

I’m 27, and every one of my volunteers, minus three or four, is older than me. I struggle and wish that I had more experience leading others that are older than me. But I know that the only true leadership experience that I received leading others is at UPS. I was a supervisor for those younger and older than me. I received that job because of my potential to lead and my ability to my job well.

Jesus left the entire church in the hands of young people. All of it. I wonder sometimes if it’s the students that can’t do the job or that the adults are too prideful to be led by a teenager?

I challenge you to let your students serve, but also let some of your students lead. Let them make the final call and bear the weight and burden of leadership.

Hope that I’m brave enough to let them fail so they can be better leaders.

Can the students at your church lead?