This is a repost of a blog I originally wrote after teaching a series on bullying and having some great conversations with high school students about the culture of schools today. Enjoy!
In youth ministry we're confronted with numerous consequences of sin in one form or another in students' lives and the problems so prevalent on the high school campus - drugs, alcohol, sexual confusion and promiscuity, bullying, violence, loneliness, depression, suicide, etc., etc., etc.
Reality: high school is hard. And the "culture" of high school can change a young person. I've seen so many students enter our ministry in middle school and be "innocent" and full of hope and joy and graduate high school scarred, cynical, and crippled by the bad decisions they've made along the way.
Is there any hope that WE (youth ministry leaders, but more importantly STUDENTS) can change the culture high school? Is there hope that instead of the culture around us shaping us we can instead take a stand upon the truth of God's Word and begin to shape, impact, and change the culture around us?
Could teenagers surrendered completely to the Gospel change:
Hatred to Compassion?
Violence to Peace?
Selfishness to Service?
Lust to Purity?
Bullying to Self-Sacrifice?
Racism, Prejudice, and Oppression to Understanding?
Lies and Confusion to Truth?
Loneliness to Love?
Depression to Hope?
Addiction to Freedom?
Death to Life?
Darkness to Light?
Could it happen? Is there any hope that a handful of teenagers can change a community? Can God really do something like this?
I know what I believe... what about you?
In youth ministry we're confronted with numerous consequences of sin in one form or another in students' lives and the problems so prevalent on the high school campus - drugs, alcohol, sexual confusion and promiscuity, bullying, violence, loneliness, depression, suicide, etc., etc., etc.
Reality: high school is hard. And the "culture" of high school can change a young person. I've seen so many students enter our ministry in middle school and be "innocent" and full of hope and joy and graduate high school scarred, cynical, and crippled by the bad decisions they've made along the way.
Is there any hope that WE (youth ministry leaders, but more importantly STUDENTS) can change the culture high school? Is there hope that instead of the culture around us shaping us we can instead take a stand upon the truth of God's Word and begin to shape, impact, and change the culture around us?
Could teenagers surrendered completely to the Gospel change:
Hatred to Compassion?
Violence to Peace?
Selfishness to Service?
Lust to Purity?
Bullying to Self-Sacrifice?
Racism, Prejudice, and Oppression to Understanding?
Lies and Confusion to Truth?
Loneliness to Love?
Depression to Hope?
Addiction to Freedom?
Death to Life?
Darkness to Light?
Could it happen? Is there any hope that a handful of teenagers can change a community? Can God really do something like this?
I know what I believe... what about you?