Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

3 Ways to Encourage Your Youth Group to Join Your Student Leadership Team

• Kristen Lascola • Episode 253

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*** Want a Student Leadership Team Starter Kit? (featuring Application, Job Descriptions, Reference Form, etc.)  Email us at MinistryCoachPodcast@gmail.com and put "STUDENT LEADERSHIP STARTER KIT" in the subject or description and we will send it over to you!*** Is your youth ministry getting ready to launch it's student leadership team and you want to build excitement for it?  Today we will be going over 3 ways to encourage your youth group to join it!

250th Episode Giveaway!! 🎉 Details on how to enter below! ***

A lot of teenagers view church as something that exists to serve them—great games, cool worship, and hanging with friends. But what happens when we challenge this perspective and invite them to become contributors rather than consumers?  In this practical episode, we unpack three game-changing strategies to recruit students for your leadership team. 

Whether you're launching your first student leadership team or revitalizing an existing one, these proven strategies will help you transform participants into passionate leaders who serve in your student ministry, your church and in their community.

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Now is the time to grow a healthy, thriving youth ministry...if you'd like to work with us, check out GrowYourYouthMinistry.com *** 

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To enter the giveaway, email us at MinistryCoachPodcast@gmail.com and put "FREE250" in the subject line or body of the email.  Also, please include your name, church and location as well.  Full giveaway details, rules and regulations can be found in the description of this episode's YouTube version here: https://youtu.be/ClAeqtihUkY


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You may also enjoy these episodes:

(#040) How to Start a Student Leadership Team in Youth Ministry

(#203) Create a Student Leadership Team that your Youth Group WANTS to Be a Part of!


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Speaker 1:

Today we're talking about three ways that you can encourage your youth group students to join your student leadership team.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we bring you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast track the growth and health of your youth ministry. If this is the first time we're meeting, my name is Jeff Laskola and this is.

Speaker 1:

Kristen Laskola, and it is student leadership season. We're like in the last stretch of summer and if you want your student leadership team to follow the school year having your first meeting in September, ending your last meeting in May it is time to do your student leadership presentation. Get those applications out and into the hands of kids so that they have time to fill it out, talk to their parents about it, turn it in, and so today we're going to be talking about how can you encourage your students to join your student leadership team. A lot of youth groups that I work with this is a new concept and they're kind of getting it off the ground. Maybe this is the first or second year that they're doing it and people might not really know what it is, so they might not be really interested because they haven't seen it play out enough.

Speaker 1:

So how can you encourage kids? That might be kind of questioning ah, is this just one more thing to do, you know, to make it so exciting, because it really is a super cool opportunity. Our student leadership team is called SOS, which stands for students of service. So while it's a leadership team technically, we lead through serving. So it actually is a serving discipleship type of team at its core, which that's what leadership is biblically right it's serving others, taking care of people, taking care of God's family, of God's house, of all the things so, and those outside of God's family too. So we're going to talk about how to do that.

Speaker 1:

So today I have three ways. The first one is to not just isolate the student leadership presentation to one weekend. So it's like, okay, we've been talking about, like at our, in our youth group, we just finished a series on doubt, and then it would be like, okay, let's talk about serving or let's do the SOS presentation. It's like, well, the better strategy would be to embed that into a serving series. So a lot of times when we do series we don't have a super clear action item for students. You know it might be a challenge at the end of the sermon. So this week, you know, find a way to love your enemy. You know, pray for them or do something nice for them. You know you might give them a choose your own adventure type of action item. What I love about embedding the discipleship leadership team into a serving series is that signing up for the leadership team becomes the action item. So it's like we've been talking about the importance of serving.

Speaker 1:

Some key talking points would be to teach the students the difference between being a spiritual consumer versus a spiritual contributor, and probably they've never thought about spirituality in that way before. You know, I always will say something. Like you know, when I was your age, I thought church was for me Like I just came, received, criticized what I liked and didn't like, and then left Right, and then I did it all over again the next week. But I failed to realize that the church does not exist for me. I am the church and the church exists for the world. So you're shifting the way the students think about what church is. It's not just here for it to be your favorite games, your best friends and your favorite worship set Great if all of those happen. But the church has a much bigger purpose besides filling your preferences. It's to serve the world and you can be a part of that. So have you been a spiritual consumer for far too long? Is it time to change the way you think and interact with church?

Speaker 1:

Another key talking point is like teaching students that we're all made to serve. We're all meant to serve. God has gifted each one of us to contribute to and in his kingdom somehow and this is your opportunity to actually do ministry with us Like not just be like the kid who comes and leaves and sits down, gets up and you know. But it's like is there more to church? Like how does all of this happen? Or what? What can I be a part of? And I think sometimes students need to hear that.

Speaker 1:

It's like you don't have to wait until you're an adult Like you can do that now, and so all of these things kind of would be key talking points in your messages to start to point students to a now what? Well, hey, if you've been looking for an opportunity, I have a thing that we do here it's amazing called SOS.

Speaker 2:

It's a student leadership team, you know, and Do you sprinkle that in throughout the series or is it like the one hit, like at the end it?

Speaker 1:

would be like probably a bigger hit at the end. But you could sprinkle it throughout like, hey, and on the last week I'm going to talk to you guys about a super cool opportunity, if you're like okay, yeah, I want to serve. I just don't really know how or where to start. I have something coming your way, you know.

Speaker 1:

I hope you guys will be here on the last week because I think the SOS presentation needs its own time because you have to talk to them about how do you sign up and all of that, and so I just think embedding it in there just gives that extra level of understanding and motivation, because if you deliver the series right there, you're answering the question that they should be asking. You know well how, how do I do this. You know what do I do? Just plan a like.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to paint the church or do landscaping.

Speaker 1:

You know, like how does one just decide to serve at church? This is probably the first time for a lot of them that they're sort of owning their faith, owning like, hey, what do I want to do here? And so number two one other thing that I think is super effective is sharing your own testimony of what serving has done in your own life and I talked to the students a lot about like, and for anyone listening it's like obviously serving is a part of your life and it started at some point. And to tell students that, like, who were you before serving and who are you now? What did serving do for you and your understanding of who God is? Because it's this whole other dimension of our faith that when you aren't serving and you're just receiving, you miss out on.

Speaker 1:

So, kind of dive into your own story and tell students like I tell them a lot of times guys, I don't even think I'd still be here if someone didn't invite me onto a serving team.

Speaker 1:

Because I had kind of like been going to church since I was four years old and I'm like, yeah, okay, I know the gospel, I guess we're all supposed to be like good people and then we go to heaven someday like cool, like I feel like church would have run its course for me and I would have missed out on so much, because in my it wasn't true but my understanding was heard it, seen it, know it, blah, you know. But then, entering this world of serving and connecting with people and giving of yourself and giving of your talent and giving of your gifts, and watching life change and being a part of something bigger than yourself, it was like, oh my gosh, like this is exactly where I need to be, no-transcript.

Speaker 1:

Like ministry, like who saved who kind of thing you know? It's like, yes, I was able to use my gifts for, you know, junior high students and lead them to the Lord, and all of that. But what it did for me the first time I stepped into it at like 18 years old, was, oh my gosh, I didn't realize how at risk I was until I saw how far I had come. So, telling them those stories of like, hey, this isn't just like. Hey, everyone pitch in, all right, there's a lot to do around here, and no one schlepping around and freeloading around here body of Christ, and everyone grab a mop, like I think that's just the worst way we could possibly sell it. But letting them know, no, god has something for you. Yes, you're gonna be helping other people, but, oh my gosh, what is God going to do in your heart, in your life, through serving? What new ways are you going to experience him? And you're going to see things from a totally new perspective. And when you dive into your own story with them, I just think it's so much more inspiring because they're like whoa, like there was.

Speaker 1:

They like probably thought you were born at the church, like there was a time where you didn't serve, you know. And so what was that journey like for you? We want them to know. It's not like, oh no, I have to give up more of my time. But you know, one of my leaders and I had this really interesting conversation the other day where it was on a Tuesday night during youth group, and I, like gave her a hug. I'm like, oh, I'm so glad you're here, she goes, I'm so glad I'm here, like really, she's like, yeah, you know, like I always feel that temptation, like I'm too busy, I'm too tired, I should just stay home, like I don't really need it, oh, and then the second I come and start hanging out with students and doing what I'm good at, like I don't even feel like I'm working, like I don't feel like it's like put in another hard night's work at you know youth group.

Speaker 1:

She's like it fills me up and I don't know why I don't believe that every time it's like this temptation of like no yourself right but saving yourself like oh, who said that, lose your life to find it? Um, but saving yourself is losing yourself in the bigger picture, okay I thought you're gonna say something.

Speaker 2:

No, I'm trying to clear my throat from all this talking I've been doing yeah I did have a question, if you're at a little a breaking point here.

Speaker 1:

Sure.

Speaker 2:

So how many weeks should the series be kind of leading up to that? If we're counting the last day of that series being the pitch, I think it could be as short as one or two weeks.

Speaker 1:

It could go to three. I don't think you need four on serving. I think that's really long, but I think you could do it in two or three weeks.

Speaker 2:

And one of those weeks being the actual pitch. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I just think the pitch is the like, it's the culmination. I think you just won't have as much success just like oh yeah, by the way, hey guys, we have this thing coming up. If you want to sign up, there's applications back there, and I'm sure that's what a lot of youth pastors do. They just fold it into the announcements like.

Speaker 1:

Oh, hey guys, we're starting a student leadership team you guys should join. It needs uh, it needs more airtime than that and it needs a bigger platform than that, If you're really going to motivate kids like you don't want to miss this, you don't want like, what is God waiting?

Speaker 2:

Like you need to develop a whole thing around it. So, yeah, that's a great question and, if you guys were interested, we have a whole like student leadership starter pack. If you want to email us at ministry coach podcast at gmailcom, just put student leadership starter pack and we can send that over to you. It has applications, kind of job descriptions, obviously, those some of those things you would change for your own youth ministry. Um, it has the powerpoint you've been using for like a million years that needs to get updated, but we have all that stuff. So, yeah, if you do want it, just send us an email.

Speaker 1:

we can get that okay, so I was talking to my friend sammy. Hi, sammy, this week he's up in the bay area and he's like oh yeah, we're launching our student leadership team. Yeah, I had your PowerPoint. I updated it.

Speaker 1:

And I was like it's more of the bones, it is the bones, and I wish you guys could see me actually doing the presentation because I say I make clip art, come alive people. Because I say I make clip art, come alive people, I show, I say I say so much more than what's on those slides.

Speaker 2:

It's just like a jumping off point.

Speaker 1:

But yes, if you get it real hip graphics from the late 90s you know what one of my leaders who started SOS made that and to honor her memory, I will keep it. Thank you, julie thank you, julie yeah, and you guys can.

Speaker 2:

You guys can thank julie too. Thank you, beautiful, I love it. I had something else to say, and now I don't know what it was I distracted myself with my witty comments. Um, anyways, go for it. Thanks, whatever you're doing're doing.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay, back at it.

Speaker 1:

Whatever you were doing, number three. So here's again where you're filling in gaps. You really want to paint a picture, create a vision for them so that they can see it. You know so, especially if they've never done it before. You want them to be able to see it. I will tell you the truth. You want them to be able to see it. I will tell you the truth Most of the students I have that do SOS are repeat the next year.

Speaker 1:

So that tells you they're enjoying it. It's not a hundred percent, but a lot of them. So if these kids, like, have never experienced, like the, the team, you need to create the, the picture and the vision for them so that they can see it. So I tell them about their jobs. So I'm like, hey, everybody gets their own job, like a part of church that you are responsible for. It might be working in the snack shack, it might be worship, whether that's hand motions, vocals, instruments. That might be running tech, like we'll teach you how to run tech in the booth. It might be greeting. You know that one's hard for junior hires, but sometimes I have an extrovert gen z stare really good at it.

Speaker 1:

They need a little nudge. I usually have to several. I pushed our daughter this sunday. There is this girl who's super sweet but super shy and I'm like, go and fight her, just sit with you. She goes. I already did. I'm like, well, do it again. Do it with words this time, and you can just tell she was like oh, but she did it.

Speaker 2:

She's shy and she got shot down.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, ouch, ouch.

Speaker 2:

Never be doing that again.

Speaker 1:

Way to go, mom I know, so maybe they can help you, like in the cafe, maybe they whatever I mean. However, your youth group is structured find areas to let students in and students help. It could be setting up, it could be tearing down. I have a student who likes to come early and she helps us in the office, whether she counts, offering or writes letters to our Compassion International kid. There's so many ways that students can be used, so you want to tell them. That is like hey, ministry is for all of us. It's not just me, because I'm a pastor or a youth leader or a small group leader or whatever, but ministry is for all of us. And I want you guys to understand like there's so much satisfaction in finding what you're good at, and if you start a job and you don't like it, let's try something else.

Speaker 1:

You're not locked in forever. Sometimes they help with the little kids and they love it, or don't you know? There's so many. We're trying to help them find their shape.

Speaker 2:

You know, I heard a pastor one time say sometimes people will hesitate because like, well, I'm not sure if that's for me or if I'd be good at that or whatever. And he was like do it and you'll quickly find out if that is the role you need to play and then, if it's not great, check that one off the list and move on to the next.

Speaker 1:

Ask me how many days I lasted in the three year old room.

Speaker 2:

How many days?

Speaker 1:

One days I lasted in the three-year-old room? How many days? One Half a day. It was half a day and I think they saw the writing on the wall.

Speaker 2:

They didn't ask me back.

Speaker 1:

They put a line through your name. I, like, did not compute it.

Speaker 2:

I'm like, wait what? And they need help with what and what, crying because they got hit with a dodgeball. So question um, school is starting soon, like for us, really soon. When would you start this series? So, and also, if you're? Watching this and it's in february or march or and you really want to start a student leadership team, don't be discouraged. But if, um, and go ahead and start it. But if you were to say was the best time to start it when would it be before school starts?

Speaker 2:

or like right when school starts, no, before Okay.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, which is kind of hard and tricky sometimes because people are still out of town. And I remember last year I did the SOS presentation and so many students missed it. And then I'm like, do I do it again? And so I guess you'll have to time it right for you. The reason I say now, because I want to have my first meeting the first Friday of September, so I need all those applications to be in and I try to give them three or four weeks to fill out the application. So it really has to start early August. It just depends how long you want application season to be open. You know, if it's only a two week turnaround, then you could start more mid August, you know. So that's why I mean, in one year I waited way late and we had our first meeting in October. That's not the end of the world. We have a lot of meetings, but kind of. I guess that depends on your timeline.

Speaker 1:

But the other thing, other than their jobs, is, you know, tell them about the service project. So I always say we learn to serve inside the church, we learn to serve the body of Christ, but now we're going to serve outside the church, because the church exists for a hurting world as well, not just to keep all of our people comfortable and happy, but what about the world, you know? So we do some service projects that are so great and we tell students all about them. And that's when they get excited too, because, again, these aren't things that students are like typically finding on their own, or like I'd like to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, like unless their parents are those kinds of people they're not finding these opportunities. So you tell them, like you're going to be able to serve, like like we do this big one with an autistic adult facility and it's like the best We've done homeless outreach and different things like that. And they're getting like this firsthand experience of like well, that made me a little uncomfortable in a good way, you know I needed that and they always are totally changed.

Speaker 1:

And then the other picture painting for them is it's community too, like some of my best friends at church are because we've served together. And so when you just walk into a room and you're like, okay, how do I get to know people? Well, the number one way to form connection, I think, far beyond small groups, is serving. I am way closer to people through serving than any Bible study I've ever attended, and I think it's because you're solving problems together, you're working together, you're maybe bonding over a difficult like oh, that was uncomfortable thing. Um, you're having fun together through serving. And, like my leadership team, my adult staff you know my 26 or whatever volunteers and staff, that's a perfect example. Like we just had our leader night out last night and it was like these are, someone said at the end of it, can we build a commune and all just live together? And they're like you can bring Jeff, though, and I was like yes, no, just kidding.

Speaker 2:

Um, I was like I ruined a good time.

Speaker 1:

I was like that's so sweet. I finally had to kick them all out too, cause the host was like looking at me, like I have an early morning, and I was like guys, uh, yeah, we got to get going and they never want it to end. Like, because serving just brings out this side of you, that you bond with those people and they become your friends, and I want that for our students, you know, for them to experience the joy of deep community through working together, being a part of something bigger serving and you can paint that picture for them. Like, maybe you're having trouble finding community at church but you're in a small group. You come every week but something's just not clicking. Maybe it's because you haven't served. That could be the it for you of like how to feel connected here. I want everyone to come to church feeling connected. Another vision I like to cast for students is through you serving, you could have the opportunity to change someone's life. You know, whether you're helping out with the little kids or a service project we do, or learning how to reach out to someone who's new at church and some evangelistic stuff that we teach kids at SOS, it's like you could very well change someone's life for the better and, like I said before in your life will inevitably be changed. So bottom line is like we're just trying to create a vision for them to see that the world is bigger than you.

Speaker 1:

The church is probably not what you thought it was. The purpose of church is probably different than you've been thinking. Now you're like 11, 12, 13, 14. So there's now it's time to shift to another gear.

Speaker 1:

Rather than I sat in circle time and said my Bible verse and sang songs and it was just like little kids don't like necessarily usually have jobs that they do at church or serve. But now they're at an age where this is such a developmental piece because we're always saying we want students to start owning their faith and not make it their parents' faith anymore and I think this is serving, is a developmental milestone for that of having a way that I owned, um, like this piece of ministry. You know when I was able to use some gifts, or trying to at least figure out what they were. You know and, lastly, you know one of my favorite things to do. I don't know if you guys are at this point where you can do this yet, but when I do the presentation, I love pointing out the leaders in the room that are now adults. That were my adults.

Speaker 1:

They're very young adults, but that they were former SOS kids. I'll be like you guys love. You know so-and-so Well. Guess what? She used to be an SOS kid. She was sitting right where you guys were sitting, not more than what? Seven years ago, because it instilled in her the love to serve, the love for the church. And now look at her. You know she's a leader to you guys. Could that be you in the future? Is this where you start to get that training for how to be something for somebody else?

Speaker 1:

how to serve the church, how to love God's people. Well, it worked for him. I mean, like he was just a kid like you guys, and then he signed up and now he's not a kid, because he signed up. He like, continued to serve, like, and that's what I always try to tell them Once you get a taste for serving, you kind of can't stop. You know, even if I wasn't paid to do my job, I would find some student ministry to be like.

Speaker 2:

I would find some kids to play dodgeball with probably in the neighborhood.

Speaker 1:

It'd be cool, We'd like stay out till, like our moms called us in or whatever. No, but you know what I mean? Like I would, I would still be a small group leader for whoever took my job, or a different youth group or something Like I don't think youth group or something like I don't think I could just be like well, that was that. It was like, once you do it, it's kind of like this motion, this thing that's been put into motion that has this like kinetic energy that won't stop, you know, but anyways, Anyways if you guys are looking to start your student leadership team, I feel like this is probably one of the most recommended episodes.

Speaker 2:

That we recommend is the how to launch a student leadership team, so make sure you check that out. It'll be down in the description below. We're going to do a community comment of the day and then we're going to announce our winner for our 250th episode giveaway. We are on week two of giveaways and then we believe we have two more weeks after this, but we'll do that in just a second. All right, this is from Tamlyn Ellis, who says Hi there, I absolutely love your channel and the heart you have for building up youth. It's been such an encouragement and resource for me. Thanks so much for all you pour out to help leaders like me grow. You're a huge blessing. You're a huge blessing, tamlyn. Thank you, a huge blessing. You're a huge blessing, tamlin. Thank you so much. She is. We really appreciate that all right. Now is the time for the giveaway and what we're giving away this week is is a flag football set and a starbucks gift card.

Speaker 2:

Guess what?

Speaker 1:

you can play flag tag with these. I don't play flag football, I play flag tag. We just did it at summer camp, so fun.

Speaker 2:

So you have that going for you, which is nice either, or All right, the winner for the flag football set and. Starbucks gift card is Diana De Silva Diana Congratulations and you can play either flag football or flag tag or whatever your heart desires I like flag if you guys are like what the heck are you guys talking about?

Speaker 2:

uh, we're doing a giveaway right now, so make sure you check out in the description below and it'll link over to where you can find out the full details about how to enter. And we're doing doing it, like I said, for the next two weeks, I believe two weeks coming up, so make sure you guys check that out. And thank you guys so much for watching and listening and we'll see you next time.

Speaker 1:

Today we're talking about three ways to help encourage.

Speaker 2:

I stuttered. I'm sorry, are you?

Speaker 1:

bored right now. You can cut that out. Today we're talking about three ways that you can help your youth group be on the youth group train. I don't know, I just said whatever came to my head.