by Jesse Adkinson

As a small church youth leader, you probably feel some of the same pressures and get some of the same questions as the rest of us. “How are you going to reach the kids in our church?” If you have a really holy pastor or deacon board they’ll even ask, “Why aren’t we reaching the kids in our community?” If you are anything like me, when those conversations come it can be hard to not hear the words between the words–“Why isn’t your youth group bigger? How can you get more students to come to your church?”

While we would all like to see more students coming to our youth ministries–hearing the Gospel, being discipled, and serving for the sake of the Kingdom–we should be careful not to judge our success based on how many students are in our midweek student ministry meeting. I would challenge you to ask the success question in a different way. Rather than asking how you can get more students there, perhaps you need to ask the more difficult question: “Am I being faithful with the students God has given me?”
I have rested for years in the parable of the talents when it comes to this issue. If you haven’t read it in a while, check out Matthew 25:14-30. A careful reading of the parable finds Jesus making a point about the kingdom of heaven and how in God’s economy greater areas of responsibility are assigned to His workers. The key is faithfulness. Notice the master’s critique of the servant who had been entrusted one talent and failed to even try to put it to work: “You wicked, lazy servant . . .” (Matt. 25:26, NIV). He was wicked because he agreed to steward well that which was given to him and he was lazy because he didn’t even try. Contrast that with the servants who went to work with what the master had given them and did the best they could. They both received the same type of reward. Because of their faithfulness, not the quantity of their production they were told, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” (Matt. 25:23, NIV).

May we be found faithful in discipling the students God has entrusted to us and trust Him to send us more in his time.

Jesse Adkinson teaches youth ministry at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He has worked in youth ministry in churches in Kentucky and South Carolina.