A short background about myself and an explanation on why I’m so passionate about kids starting to serve at a young age. I grew up in church watching my parents serve. They instilled in me the desire to serve in our church at a young age but there wasn’t a lot of opportunities to fulfill that desire. We were often told, “You’re not old enough,” “You don’t know what you’re doing,” etc… As a kid who was willing to serve Jesus and the church, this was disappointing but my desire continued to want to be a part of something greater.
When I was 13, I started attending youth group and was finally asked to help with the tech team at church. I was so thrilled to finally have a place to serve and call mine. There were 2 guys that took me under their wing for the next few years. They showed me the ropes, and from that point on I was hooked! By the time I was 15, I was running tech for a youth group of 150 students. This is where I began to grow, make mistakes, train and recruit students. The neatest part about this is those 2 guys that took the time to ask and invest in me at a young age, gave me a career path that I love: doing tech at FOTP.
3 reasons why we must start them young:
- It models what the church should look like.
As Christ Followers, we are called to serve the local church and that doesn’t just mean for adults. It doesn’t matter your age or what stage of life you are in When we serve our church we instantly begin to grow in our faith and learn to serve the way Christ served us. Matthew 19:14
- It gives them a place to belong.
We all know that with being young, and especially a young teen, it’s often difficult to feel like you belong, but still want to be a part of something. Serving with a team of people that are striving for the same goal gives people purpose and makes them feel like they belong. There are few things in life that give you greater joy than achieving a goal with a team of people.
- Culture Shift
When we set the expectation to our youth that serving is a great and worthy thing to do, it becomes the culture of the church. When these students continue to grow in their faith and age, serving will become the norm. Over time this will change the culture of your church. The influence that our youth can have on the church is absolutely astounding, so let’s use this for the good of the church.
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