To Save a Life

Is your life, faith, ministry just a set of meaningless motions? Do you merely call yourself a Christian or do you live like Christ? Do you get so busy doing the “work” of the ministry that you forget the people you’re supposed to minister to? Do you take the command to love your neighbor with the stipulation that you’ll show that unconditional love as long as someone is of the same grade, sport, clique, or socio-economic class?

I just finished watching the movie, "To Save a Life", and let's just say it challenged me big time. This movie is a sobering reminder of a couple big things: 1) How you treat others does matter, 2) in youth ministry we can get in huge ruts that can have heartbreaking consequences, 3) Everyone deserves and needs to be loved.

How you treat others does matter. There's the saying that "sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me". That could not be less true. What you say has the potential to make or break someone's day. Sometimes though, the absence of words can do just as much damage. When we ignore people, even unknowingly, it's painful. Making other things/people come before the person in front of you can devastate someone who may just need a friend at that time. Think right now if you were to be treated/talked to in the same manner you treat/talk to others... as some of do that, we may be getting a bit of a pit in our stomachs.

In youth ministry we can get in huge ruts that can have heartbreaking consequences. Ministering to youth, you are constantly surrounded by hurting kids, whether you know it or not. Middle school and high school are all about trying to find your place in the world and who you are and it could be the loneliest time of someone's life. In this movie, the youth pastor goes to talk to this kid with the question all youth leaders have said countless times, "What school do you go to?" - I don't know why but when he asked that question to the kid who would later commit suicide, it took my breath away. We ask the ice breaker questions, we play games, have fun music, and big events, but what does that accomplish if kids don't walk away feeling loved, challenged, encouraged, and poured into? The youth group in the movie had a blast with all the "extras" but then they were missing the meat - living their faith in school and even with people in the youth group. You hear all the time that the church is full of hypocrites, and that doesn't stop in the youth group but if we do our jobs right, it maybe could. I look at the youth group here that I kind of oversee now and honestly it makes me sick how much I've failed to "make the most of every opportunity", when it comes to these kids. I just pray that I'm not too late to minister to them the way that I should have been all along.

Everyone deserves and needs to be loved. One thing about Jesus that blows my mind is that He unconditionally loves EVERYONE. He ate with tax collectors, talked to adulteresses, ministered to prostitutes and dying thieves. Rich/poor, "sinner"/"saint", Gentile/Jew... He loved them all. Yet at school, our jobs, and even in our ministries we refrain from showing His love because, "well, they look scary", "they're too popular", "they're not popular enough", "we don't have anything in common"... that's ridiculous! Why do we in the church who profess to rejoice in Christ's unconditional love, refrain to show it to those who need it the most? Something needs to change. It's time for youth ministry to get back yo just that... ministry. Ministring selflessly, pouring ourselves out, overcoming awkwardness and excuses to show these kids tangibly the love that their Father has for them.