Skip to main content

I Want to be a Church Youth Leader


 
You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. ~ 2 Timothy 2:2

I'm certainly not the first who has used this verse from Paul's second letter to Timmy as a personal purpose statement for ministry. 

But it is a verse that I use. 

It reminds me of many things:

  • Whether I realize it or not, I am teaching things. I should make sure it's the message I want to get across. I need to always double down and ensure it's the message of Jesus.
  • I am to be surrounded by others who will back me up on the truth. They do not merely cheer lead whatever feel-good message is out there. They are to confirm the truth.
  • This teaching is supposed to be passed on. These people will (hopefully) be trustworthy. Otherwise, the teaching will be in vain. 
  • The people I pass it on to will, in turn, pass it along to others. 
If you picture this, it's like the age-old pyramid scheme where you buy hundreds of dollars of worthless stuff, all while overestimating your ability to sell this same stuff to other suckers, uhh...friends. Except this is not worthless stuff. It's the Greatest. News. Ever. Oh, and God came up with the pyramid. 
I'm mentioning all of this today for two reasons. 
First, I'm reminded how little this process is about me. Yes, I am a teacher. But the system is in place to keep even the teachers in check. When we consider that teachers plant seeds, others water those seeds and that it is God who actually provides the growth (1 Corinthians 3:6), it shows just how insignificant I am. 
Secondly, I'm very thankful for the 'reliable witnesses' that surround me. I call them youth leaders. In my local ministry we just celebrated a college student who had been helping lead. She was taught by her parents and youth leaders. More recently, she learned from college profs and the...uh....experiences in our youth ministry. 
She leaves now to teach in her own youth ministry. I can only hope there will be reliable witnesses to confirm her teaching and trustworthy people who will be able to pass it on to others. 
It's the goal. It's the calling. And it is still the Greatest. News. Ever. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl

Patience

I am more than halfway through the last year of dropping one of my children off at school. It's my eighth grade daughter, for anyone keeping track of my family.  See, next year she will be at the high school, and her brother will drive her. He says that it's not cool for seniors to drive their freshman sister to school, but I bet it's cooler than being dropped off by your mom in a minivan.  So rather than groan about this daily responsibility, I've been reminiscing about what the drop-off line used to look like, way back in elementary school. Once our children were about halfway through their elementary years, the drop-off line became a test of patience.  Do you know which group you do not want to get caught behind in the parent drop-off line at an elementary school? The kindergartners. These little ones are barely able to walk, but now we put them in the high-pressure situation of trying to unbuckle their seat-belt, grab their backpack (which might be as tall as they a

Jury Duty

I was recently summoned to jury duty. I know, groan. Except I didn't. I had never experienced it before and was curious to see what it was like.   When the day to report arrives, they separate you into groups, asking various questions to decide if you will be selected to serve. Do you know the accused? Do you have conflicts that would keep you from serving? Can you stay focused?  I wanted to answer well, if only because my kids kept wishing me luck the day before, telling me they hoped I made the team. After all, who wants to be rejected? It occurred to me that there are things you probably shouldn’t say right away if you’re wanting to serve on a jury. I know, I know, people don’t typically want to serve on a jury. But that list didn’t seem nearly as humorous to me. Here are the things you probably shouldn’t say if you want to be selected for jury. I hold myself in contempt. You can’t handle the truth. We find the defendant guilty. I believe the judge looks pretty in his robe. I’d