I've noticed a very simple principle related to numbers in high school campus ministry. For the most part, the schools with large numbers at their gatherings have a much more difficult time motivating their members to seek the Lord. In large groups, unless the leader is particularly gifted, the culture of the group is set by the overwhelming majority, and when that majority is filled with peer pressure and uncertainty and plain dullness, so the culture goes.
Small groups, however, have a much better chance of taking action and seeking the Lord because there is less peer pressure to squelch the fire. Teens feel more comfortable and open in smaller groups and are much more likely to participate actively, and are much more easily motivated to do radical things.
Large groups have an increased difficulty maintaining their focus, as the voices of so many opinions dilute their clarity of vision. Large groups also require much more pastoral leadership to maintain unity and community. In many cases of student-led gatherings, the pastoral burden alone causes the group to disintegrate.
However, when the majority of a large group is passionate and already motivated to seek the Lord, then the culture follows that majority. The difficulty is fostering that culture into existence when it does not exist. It is much easier to start small with an established vision and passion and grow at a rate where the majority remains motivated.
If a student leader has a large group of high school students where the majority is largely unmotivated, then I would pray hard for the group and actually consider downsizing...
Case Study: Olathe South High School students once held weekly gatherings in the high school gym for Christian students. They had a full worship team, portable sound system, hot breakfast, and over 100 students attending every week. Sounds amazing, right? Over time, the fruit of the group was not what you would expect. Leaders became offended at each other, students attended and socialized but the offense among the leaders began to cause nonbelievers to criticize Christianity. As hard and sincerely as the leaders tried, the group began to fall apart.
That winter the Lord spoke to several of the leaders calling them to try high school ministry His way, through prayer for breakthrough (out of Acts 1-2). At the start of the spring semester the leaders announced that the group was going to focus primarily on prayer on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and they were no longer going to use the gym or the sound system or the full worship team or the hot meals. Guess how many members they had after that announcement? Ten. This shift revealed how many students (and leaders) were attending out of genuine desire for God and how many attended as a social club.
But in the end, the group began to see breakthrough! The social club ended and students began to focus on God, which was supposed to be the focus of the group, and now (5 years later) students at Olathe South pray EVERY DAY before school as a group and they are seeing their prayers answered in miraculous ways! Now Jesus is actually being exalted!
Why? God uses the weak things to confound the wisdom of this world.
No comments:
Post a Comment