4 Ways to Challenge the Way Your Students View Their Schools This Semester

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You don't need to be told that school consumes the time and lives of students. Still, it is important to be reminded that your students constantly interact with their peers each week, many of whom do not know what it means to have a life-transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.

God has placed your students strategically in your community's high schools and middle schools.

When was the last time you reminded your students that God has placed them where they are for a

reason? When was the last time you were intentional in calling your students to a bigger vision for the Lord using them in their community? What if you could help them see their time in the classrooms, cafeterias, and hallways as less of a drudgery and more of a divine appointment?

This transformation of attitude is what a “campus mission focus” is all about. Prayerfully consider taking at least one youth ministry gathering this semester to not only remind students that God can use them to change their school for Christ but also really equip and challenge them to do so.

As you consider what it might look like to challenge your students to view their schools differently this semester, here are four important concepts to help them see things through the lens of a "campus mission" focus.

1) Remind Students Of The Great Gift Of The Gospel

It is important to remind students of the great gift they have in their relationship with Jesus Christ through the Gospel (John 3:16, 1 Timothy 1:14-17). Your students have been loved and redeemed by the God of the universe. Students must begin to truly understand the amazing nature of the grace that they have been given before they will be passionate about sharing that grace with others. It has to sink in. It has to be internalized.
 

2) Remind Students Of The Great Commission

You must also remind students of Christ's Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). As students go through their lives, they must begin to realize that God has placed them in the school they attend, on the teams or groups they are a part of, on the street where they live, etc. God has placed your students there to be a light in the midst of the darkness, pointing people to Jesus. Help your students grasp that the Great Commission is a command from Jesus for all believers, not just a suggestion for the extra-spiritual.

3) Remind Students Of The Great Need

It is important to remind your students that there are hurting people all around them that need the

gospel. It may be helpful to gather some statistics of hurting teenagers, such as attempted suicide numbers for your county, to show your students that hurt is a reality in their school. Chances are that your students know better than anyone what is going on just under the surface of many of their friends and acquaintances.

4) Remind Students That God Works Through Them

Many students are hesitant to embrace a “campus mission focus” and reach out to their peers. (If we're honest, this is a challenge for most adults, as well!) Reminding them that the Holy Spirit lives within them and that He is the one who does the work is really a must. Helping them see that God wants to work through them is key to helping them own this concept. But how can we lead students through the uncertainty they feel?

Here's the deal: Students understanding these great truths alone will not change the schools in your community. You must call students to practical action in light of these truths. Students will not act unless they have internalized both the concept and the concept's importance. In other words, they have to VALUE these ideas before they will act on them.

Students have to feel like these concepts are vitally important before they will incorporate them into their lives. That's why challenging them to view things through the lens of a campus mission focus is so vital.

Share your thoughts with the YouthMinistry360 community:

What are you doing to help your students see their schools through the lens of a campus missions focus?

How do you help students internalize these truths so that they actually apply them?

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