The Best Way to Keep High Schoolers Involved In Your Church

Last updated on: June 29, 2016 at 3:12 pm by Josh Daffern

The Best Way to Keep High Schoolers Involved In Your Church 2016-06-29T15:12:55-06:00 Josh Daffern

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

www.unsplash.com

With my background as a youth pastor, the age-old question of keeping high schoolers involved in your church is a familiar one. The lament is the same: once our high schoolers get their driver’s licenses (or when they become old enough to make their own choices), they don’t want to come to church anymore. That obviously is alarming because many high schoolers follow that track straight into college and a potentially vast spiritual wasteland in their 20s.

So how can churches keep high schoolers involved? Many theories have been thrown around and implemented. One popular one is to throw more entertainment at them. Do more stuff. Build them a youth building. Have more trips. That may work for some but will ultimately be unsuccessful, because if you try and compete with the world in the field of entertainment, you’ll always lose. You can’t ‘out-entertain’ the world to capture the hearts and minds of high school students. A similar approach is to create a contemporary worship service. Surely it’s the hymns that are driving young people away. Splash a little Hillsong on the walls and that should bring them all back, right? Teenagers do tend to worship in a style of music that matches their generation (surprisingly enough), but that’s not the best way to keep high schoolers involved in your church. So what is it?

The best way to keep high schoolers involved in your church is to have them serve in meaningful roles within your church. It’s as simple as that. By the time your church teenagers get to high school, they’ve sat long enough. They’ve been entertained, sung to and preached at for over a decade. They want to stop sitting and start doing. If you give your high schoolers meaningful roles, they will plug in and stay there. But it has to be meaningful (letting the youth be the ushers for Youth Sunday won’t cut it). High Schoolers want to be treated like adults. So treat them like adults.

Here’s how I’ve seen that play out in my current environment: we have over 100 involved in our student ministry (for reference, our average total weekend attendance is around 500). High schoolers are a vital part of our volunteer force. Not only do they volunteer every week in our preschool area, they help lead and teach in our kids ministry. They sing on stage in our worship services on Sundays and Wednesdays, and they help run our Production/Tech ministry. (Several weeks ago an 8th grader ran our sound board on a Sunday morning, because he’d been given meaningful opportunities to train on that board during our Wednesday night youth services).

This truth hit home for me recently on Memorial Day weekend (a habitually low turnout day for most churches). I knew many adult volunteers were out traveling that day and we were going to have to cover some spots. Twenty minutes before our earliest service, on a Sunday when many of our adult volunteers were out, I saw one of our 10th graders pull up to the church. His parents weren’t there yet. He had gotten himself up early on a holiday weekend and beat most everyone else to church. Why? Because he leads a small group in our kids ministry. He is responsible for them. They look for him every week, and he won’t let them down. Trust high schoolers. Believe in them. Give them meaningful responsibility and hold them to high standards, and then watch them soar.

New Wineskins

church

high school

Previous Post

June 27, 2016

5 More Out-of-the-Box Things Southern Baptists Can Do to Jumpstart Growth

Next Post

July 6, 2016 Morality and the Clintons: Party Like It's 1998

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Family Matters Ministry in the Trenches Morning Brew MTVpastor New Wineskins Top Menu Truth from Life Uncategorized Watch Sermons

Select a Month June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Ezekiel cook his food over as a sign of coming judgment?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Cow dung Stones Ashes Wood