Send out Seniors Well.
In “Gaining by Losing,” J.D. Greear shares the vision for a
ministry that celebrates a sending capacity over seating capacity. He writes, “As a student ministry, we have no
choice but to send people! After four or five years, our students leave whether
we want them to or not. The question is not if we will send, but what type of
people will we send.”
However, as I talk with coaches and teachers around Central
Indiana, one of the greatest challenges is that you constantly have to be “reloading.” As one FCA Huddle Coach described it, “As
soon as you get momentum it’s fall break and then winter break and before you
know it your seniors are graduating!”
Here are THREE ways to send out Seniors (or eight graders)
that can also inspire and replenish the underclassmen
1. Send Your
Seniors To Their Campus.
We should always be challenging and equipping our students
to live as lights and share the gospel with the students in their class, sports
teams and clubs. Yet, one of the most
impactful times to reach students is during transitional times in their lives. Seniors making choices about whether or not
you they’ll continue their education, their sport, living at home or whatever,
create stress, questions and opportunities to share Christ. Urge your seniors to finish strong and use
the few months and weeks of their time at school to share Christ on their
campus.
2. Send Your Seniors
To a New Ministry.
What’s next for your graduates? Do you have a plan, a strategy to create a
seamless, momentum-producing hand-off for your graduates? Many times we are so excited and focused on
our club that we give the impression that there’s nothing for those who
graduate and leave. We need to charge our
seniors to plug into their “next ministry.”
Whether on a college campus, the military or somewhere else there are
FCAs and other Christian ministries waiting to help your graduate take their
next step in their relationship with Christ.
3. Send Your
Seniors To a Good Church.
According to LifeWay Research about 70% of young adults who
indicated they attended church regularly for at least one year in high school drop
out after graduation. Take time to
connect your students to the local church, and not just their student ministry.
Find areas for them to serve and be involved in the church. Students crave
ownership and this is why many love FCA.
But we need to take that principle and apply it to the local church. Before your students graduate from your
huddle make sure they are handed off to a local church where they can serve and
continue to grow in their life-long relationship with Christ.
At the end of your FCA career, the greatest impact of our ministry
may not be how many students came to our huddles but how many we graduated to
impact their world for Christ.