Spring here in New Hampshire is long awaited! There are years where some of us in February are actually convinced we never will see grass again. That was this past winter. Spring means summer planning. What to do this summer, how often should we meet? Everybody seems to go away, and we can’t get that critical mass that many of us have been working so hard on all year long. Do we take the summer off and abandon our plans because we can’t get the size of the group that we want? How often is too often or not often enough to meet? What should our gatherings look like?
The summer to me is the greatest relational time available! We may not have all the kids all the time, but at least they have time…well some of them.
I’m 32 years old, which puts my high school graduation year at 1997. When I was in school, if you were a three-sport athlete, you played three sports a year. Now a three-sport athlete is someone who plays three sports a season. I have been in my present role 8 months, and this still boggles my mind.
The summer means at least some time off, some time to spend with students when they aren’t going each night until 1 or 2 a.m. for school. We need to capitalize on this time and spend whatever time we can with whoever is available. This past November, I attended my first National Youth Workers Convention in Nashville. One of the speakers challenged us to minister to whomever shows up. He shared of a story of great plans for a college ministry and all who showed up were musicians he hired and some senior citizens who were helping out. That ended up being his ministry at that time, God had different plans than he did.
What if we only have two kids show up? What if the students who show up are not the ones we particularly like? If two kids show up, what a great opportunity it is to pour into and love on those two kids! Maybe if we (myself included) can get over our obsession with numbers and minister to and love whomever God puts in our path, we might see some real transformations in ministry.
When I was in college, one of our youth ministry professors challenged us that love is spelled T-I-M-E. We need to spend time with students whenever we can. This suburban culture is really lacking in free time; it is go, go, go — always. It’s not ideal. In order to function, I have to think of myself more as a missionary. I need to learn the culture and figure out how I can minister within the culture rather than complaining about it or thinking I’m going to change it.
School vacations, summer breaks, whenever students have a spare minute — grab hold of these times. Speaking of that, it’s school vacation this week; so I need to go play some mini-golf with some of my students rather than just sit at my computer. A missionary to suburbia signing off.
