As of May 2021 the United States unemployment rate is 5.8. It’s not huge until you think that 5.8 percent of 350 millions people is a little over 20 million people. That is a lot of people out of work. Just like our nation, our youth ministry has a spiritual and physical economy.
In the physical economy we know when people are working:
- Money flows back into the economy
- Products get made
- People are more satisfied
- There’s less crime
- The government pays less in welfare
What does it mean, if our youth ministry’s unemployment rate is high? It means you have a possible mess on your hands. Kids without roles or responsibilities means:
- You are working harder than you need to.
- Your group is moving towards a spiritual welfare group, where kids come with hands out and hearts closed.
- Kids are not discovering their purpose or calling through trial an error.
Look at he parable of the vineyard
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
smallbizviewpoints.com
“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
We all have too many kids sitting on the side of the road. Many are “on the corner” simply because they have not been asked to serve. Think about a program you want to run or a job that needs to done, which kid can fill that role? The more you hire, the more you reap these benefits:
- You have kids taking ownership of their group
- You will have less behavior problems
- You have permission into their lives and can help equip them to do their role.
- You build excitement.
- Student feel fulfilled that they are making the program run.
Look around, I bet you’ll find your next student leader standing right next to you.
What is your servant unemployment rate? How can you implement a strategy to get more kids involved?
Check out my article 31 Roles and Responsibilities for Teens for “jobs” teens can do.