Back At It!

Back at It
By Jacob Martin

“Welcome back! How was your summer? How is the fall going?”

Over the six weeks I’ve heard this statement and question pair posed to students over and over again. I’ve even used them myself. We miss our students when they are gone. Like me, you are aware youth are soooo busy over the summer. Despite being out of class, school activities continue. There are camps offered for anything and everything from May through August. Lots of family time and vacation!

These are all positive things that have the potential to help our young people to connect, grow, and learn as wholistic beings and can not be overstated. Admittedly, what I struggle with is the expectation, pressure, and anxiety it creates within the realm of Children and Youth Ministry. The job isn’t about numbers, but when students are absent for four months too often church Leadership and members assume families and kids will be back when returns. This time, everyone was "gone" for over a year!

School has been back in session for a couple of months now. So, if you’re asking, “Where are all our students?” You are not alone. Your students may even be asking the same thing: “Where is everyone?" Families and students have been doing church and faith differently the last 18+ months. Many disengaged completely for numerous possible reasons. It's no one person's fault. It's simple a reality yet creates an adaptive challenge for us.

What’s important is you continue to do one thing. Help each family, parent, youth, and child know they were not forgotten. They remain loved, belong, and wanted. Continue to extend invitations and challenge your youth to do the same with their friends that they are missing. Any response is okay! Especially as we all try to re-engage all the aspects of our lives at rates that we feel comfortable with, remaining aware that circumstances beyond our control may dictate our responses for us.

No matter what, keep trying. Keep inviting. Keep doing what you can when you can to let others know they are loved and missed.

Jacob Martin is the Alumni Coordinator for MLI; he serves as the Director for Youth Discipleship at Topeka First UMC and the Campus Minister at Washburn University