There are usually two types of people when it comes to setting the alarm to wake up in the morning. Person number one (this is me) – sets the alarm for the last possible minute to when you actually need to wake up to not be late. Person number two – sets the alarm for about an hour before they actually need to wake up, because they want to be able to hit the snooze button over and over and over again.
In student ministry, there is a massive reality that we need to wake up to. I believe most leaders are aware of it, know it needs to be addressed, but keep “hitting snooze” because they don’t want to deal with it or don’t know how to.
What am I talking about? What is it that we have to wake up to and address? I’m thinking of the four major gaps in student ministry.
There used to be one major gap in student ministry where teens would typically cease being part of a church. It was the gap between student ministry and collegiate ministry. In fact, for decades, we’ve heard stats shared and leaders express the need for fixing this. According to Lifeway Research, two-thirds (66 percent) of American young adults who attended a Protestant church regularly for at least a year as a teenager say they dropped out for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22.
This gap remains a serious concern, but in my exposure to hundreds of student ministries and tens of thousands of students every year, I believe there are actually four major gaps now. Fewer and fewer students are making it all the way through student ministry (sixth grade through senior year) before they even have a chance to drop out after graduation.
What are those gaps?
If the Church is going to be an effective student ministry moving forward, we must wake up to addressing and closing these four gaps.
How do we do this?
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