Thursday, August 19, 2010

I wish my students would just leave



No really, I do. Ok, so sometimes I just want them ALL to leave, but what I really mean by this is that I want them to eventually get to a place where they are ready to leave the ministry that I have and start participating in ministry in some other way.

The nature of being a youth pastor means that I partner with student’s parents to prepare them to be people of faith out in the real world. That means that by the time I really get to know them and become close to them, they leave my world and head into another. We had some students leave for college this week, with several others leaving next week, and while it’s difficult for me to say goodbye to the students that I’ve invested in over the last few years, I know that it’s what they need to do. The problem with my job is that the purpose of it is to prepare people to leave. And as tough as it can be sometimes, it’s the reason that I do what I do.

Sometimes my students don’t leave town, but they still have to leave me. I’ve got several former students who still attend our church, but I don’t get to connect with them the way I did when they were in youth. They’ve moved on as well, pursuing careers or education here. Either way, they’ve left me. And that’s ok, because that’s the point of what I do.

And I got some new, crazy, seventh graders to replace them. Joy.

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