Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Catalyst or Crutch?

This past weekend I got to do some training with a couple youth ministries in the area. We were simply going through one session of our leadership training events which includes some teaching & a couple of team building initiatives. After I had finished explaining the rules & goals to the students an adult volunteer came up to them and shouted out that they needed to pay attention to what they were just taught by their pastor & that if they didn't they'd screw up. He proceeded to come up to me and whisper, "You know they can't do it, you gotta give them something." My jaw just about hit the ground.

Perhaps this guys intentions were good & he probably did care about the students, but in reality is that all you need to be an adult volunteer? If we 'gotta' give the students something how about our trust, encouragement or even more difficult, the self control to hold back & let them figure it out. We as adults can be the biggest catalyst for a student's faith or unfortunately we can be one of the biggest crutches for a student's faith. We have to be willing to let go sometimes & trust that as difficult as it may be for them, we have to believe that this is the best way for them to learn, grow & own their relationship with Christ.

Question: What boundaries do you set up for yourself when figuring out when you should challenge or save students?

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