working together to navigate youth ministry well through relationships—where every teenager matters…….

by- Ralph Sweatte

Well I survived freshman year. And that sums up how I am preparing myself to be in transit in my latest ministry opportunity. For the past 4 years, I have been volunteering to co-lead a group of high school young men.  Steve, my co-leader and I, have followed these guys from freshman year up to their senior year.  Our focus has been on building strong relationships amongst them, as they have found that friend who is closer than a brother. And we also did our part to help in their emotional and social maturity.  I’ve watched them (well most of them) move toward adulthood. Steve and I helped them to understand why you leave a gratuity for your server (and fellas, more than 0.50 cents). How there are some conversations that are better suited for just us guys.  And, that they really are an important part of the church body, both the big “C” and HCC. Which requires compliance with those “church rules” that they feel are totally absurd.

And now they are going to head out and begin to really learn to walk beside God on their own. While the past 4 years have been critical in helping them to hopefully mature from what their church, parents, Sunday school teachers, coaches, etc. believe; to: “what do I believe?” Admittedly I have mixed feelings about this transition. On the one hand I am eager to boot them out of the comfy nest of high school life. And then again, I am hesitant to let them go out into this wild world where I can’t be right there beside them to encourage, and reinforce, why it is important to make good decisions. And when they make those questionable choices, I can’t jump right in and help to get them back on track.

This is not new territory for me. I’ve been through this transition at least on 5 other occasions while volunteering in youth ministry. Some of those were easier than others. This one will not be an easy transition for me. In fact, while I hope to see them when they come back to our home church, it won’t be the same. Suddenly I will have an extra 4 – 5 hours free on Sundays. Wow.

This has been a group, where we really became a team of friends. Okay the last six weeks not so much, as their focus moves to “getting the most out of my last few days in high school.  We have been through the widest spectrum of emotions. We have laughed until we cried (they would often refer to losing liquid from other areas of their body), argued over mundane things, gotten silly over the, well silly things, and most importantly just cried because it hurt so much when we were hit by one of those “why God?!?” moments.  I think we did well. So, I am in transit with God as my guide for the next journey he has planned for me.