How to turn students into ministers

It’s one week later and I’m still processing ReThink Leadership and the Orange Conference. There were so many great sessions and breakouts.  However, it was during one of the sessions that stood out to me the most. It was something that Doug Fields said during his message at the general session of the Orange Conference.

What did he say and how does this change the way we do ministry? Check out this short video:

Doug said that we have stop think of students as simply students and graduates as graduates.  We have to think of them as ministers with a ministry field of their own.

You can do a variety of things you can do to raise up ministers.  You could share about it at youth group or in home groups.  You could also do service opprtunities and mission trips. While all those are important, I believe there is 1 really important step you can take with students.  That is to personally invest in the lives of students.

I know this seems like a no-brainer but the reality is we, as student ministers, can get so bogged down with admin stuff and programming that we can sometimes forget that we need to be investing in the lives of students.  That is the most effective way for us to raise up ministers and not just students who attend our programs and activities.

So the challenge is to pick out a few students to really invest in and make sure you are intentional about that time with the students. Cast vision for their lives, dig into scripture and take time to help them discover what their mission field is and where they can be an active minister to others.  That way students will no longer be just students in your ministry but active ministers walking along side of you.

What do you think? How are you raising up students to be ministers? What are you doing? Share your thoughts below or on social media using #ymsidekick.