3 Gifts for Graduates

Spring is here! The birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and you're probably sneezing constantly... But, it's also time to start thinking about your graduating seniors and how you can send them out of your youth ministry. Graduation is such a meaningful time in our ministries. From a ministry standpoint, it brings to close the school year and paves the way for summer. But in relational terms, it's a time to celebrate with students whom you have, hopefully, watched grow up in your ministry. 

One of the places our minds always go in these moments is how to commemorate the moment. What can you get for your graduates to help celebrate this time of transition in their lives?

We wanted to suggest a few gift ideas to empower you to not only celebrate but to create some meaning as you do so.

Below you'll find suggestions for three different types of gifts. Use any of these three gifts, or any gifts for that matter, to show your seniors how important they have been to your ministry, and to send them out of your ministry with a head full of steam.

Gift 1: The Gift of Meaning

Whether its a book, a Grad Bundle from YM360, or even a camp program from their first youth camp way back when they were in Middle school, give them something that shows them that you appreciate them and that they have been a valuable part of your youth ministry. Whatever it is, the goal here is to give them something that will go with them long after they pass from your ministry.

Gift 2: The Gift of Time

If you work in a bigger church, and you have a large number of seniors graduating out of your ministry, you may not be able to give all 40 of your seniors an hour of your time in the next month; for you, it may be that you have to invite a handful of students at a time over for dinner at your house (or something similar). But if you have a smaller group of seniors, a great gift you can give them is the gift of time. Carve out some intentional time to talk with each student to encourage them and invest in them as they're transitioning into a new phase of life. Take them out to eat or for some coffee. Go fishing. Play frisbee golf. Whatever you do, give them some focused time as a way of sharing with them how much they matter.

Gift 3: The Gift of Words

Not just a text, or an email, or a face to face conversation, but a hand-written note, or letter that they can hold and read over any time they choose. You can almost consider it an opportunity to cast your vision of where you see that specific student going and what you see them doing.

Andy Blanks and Jake Rasmussen discuss these ideas in more detail in our video below! Watch Now!

 Or listen on the go with our podcast!