I have been doing youth ministry now for a long time. Long enough that I could for sure call it a career it seems. I have been doing this for 13 1/2 years now, and most of those have been full time. It has been something that I have loved doing, something that has been full of joy (and a little bit of pain) and has been very rewarding. I have built relationships with students over the years that I am able to still nurture today. These have been an incredible part of what God has called me to do.
In fact I would say that building relationships is the thing that I do best, and it is for sure one of my favorite things to do as far as youth ministry goes. I have learned that it is well worth it to invest in the lives of these young people. I have learned that that is one of the key elements to doing this job. It is that willingness to pour oneself out into the life of a student that can make all the difference really. Usually I am happy to do this, to pour myself into building these relationships. This I believe is one of the key elements to youth ministry. Many times it is easy to do this, to want to do this. There have been students that I have been willing to pour every last ounce of me into...they were the easy kids to minister to.
But what about those kids that aren't as easy to pour in to? Sadly, I can say that I have dealt with this in the past. There have been kids that I have had in my youth groups that I, for one reason or another, just didn't want to take the time to really invest in. I didn't pour myself out as willingly as I did with other kids. I know that there are these kids in every single youth group. For some reason there is just something about them that doesn't click with me and it is a struggle for me to be willing to invest myself into that kid. Why does this happen? Shouldn't I be willing to pour myself in to every student regardless?
I wonder if this was ever something that Jesus dealt with? Were there times when He and the 12 would be traveling and make camp for the night and Jesus would look around and think "Man, I really hope Andrew doesn't want to hang out tonight, because I know he stepped in a pile of something back there and I can still smell it." I wonder if he ever thought about things like this with Judas, especially as the end drew closer? Somehow, even if the thoughts and ideas occurred to him, I doubt that Jesus acted on them. I find it hard to believe that Jesus didn't invest as equally as he could into all 12, no matter what they may have stepped in to.
In the end, it is about taking an interest in kids and their lives. It is about investing myself in others even when it means that I don't really want too. I know that when I take time to be interested in the students' lives, the reward will be far greater than anything else I can do. Peace and Love y'all.
