Student Ministry in The Trenches: A Story

Following is a short letter that I received a few years ago from one of our high school workers volunteering in a local high school. I love this story partly because I know and have walked with this student for years and partly because it shows a larger picture of why we do youth ministry! 

If you're a youth worker, paid or volunteer, thank you for sharing your life and energy with the next generation of game changers! This story is about you and the impact you and your life, church, and ministry has in the life of students. Please read this slightly edited version (names changed), take a moment to pray for the students in your youth ministry, and then pass the story on.

Student Ministry is more than large events. It's all about in-the-trenches relationships. Photo: Jeremy Postal @ Historymakers, Abbotsford, BC

Jeremy,

I thought I would send you this encouraging story about our campus pastor ministry at (local high school). Last Thursday I spent the entire school day at school. It was a strangely busy day with students and many students were in the centre with a lot of various issues. I sat with 4 boys doing work, talking through home life, and stuff for the first two periods then, in the 3rd period, a student named Caleb came in. We spent time working with this student last year...anyways…without going into too much detail, this student, though an amazingly bright kid, is and has been involved with some severe drug addiction and family trouble.

Caleb is trying to stop using drugs as they are becoming a destructive hold in his life. He shared his biggest goal is to get through high school. Through an amazing 2.5 hour discussion it came to a particular point in conversation whereby we sort of in a round about way talked about Jesus, Life, the bible, sin, new Life in Jesus, and God being a rescuer. It was amazing! At one point I had to actually stop the conversation, because we were totally about to pray in the counseling centre...!

Anyways, as the day progressed it became clear that Caleb had hit a new low and is looking for some hope and some motivation for life. He was being kicked out of the school – however - after our conversation, exchange of contact info, and an invitation to youth, I spoke with the program director. 

The program director said that his major leverage to keep Caleb in school was the fact that the student showed lots of interest in me (the campus pastor) and our church's youth program. The program director said that he viewed "the church youth group as an advocate for high school students," and that he sees our group and students as a "tremendous resources for students’ success in the community and high school."

- Campus Pastor.

Wow! How amazing would it be if every youth ministry in our country was known like this? Youth pastors, workers, and volunteers - what you do is significant and changes lives. Keep at it, don't give up, walk through life with students, and keep advocating for them. We love what you do.

Jeremy Postal is the director of Whistler School, a bible and discipleship school based out of beautiful Whistler, BC. He is passionate about building communities of restoration & creativity with Christ as the focus. You can also catch him regularly on his blog at www.jeremypostal.com or connect via Twitter @JeremyPostal.