3 Steps You Need To Take To Develop Student Leaders In The Local Parish

We were full of energy and excitement as the bus headed back to Maryland. It had been a great weekend for our teens learning what it meant to be one of Christ’s disciples. The teens were encouraged and affirmed, and I felt good; however, one question lingered in my mind:

How do we keep this going?

In other words, how do we keep the excitement and enthusiasm about being the church flowing beyond this experience? The teens who attended the conference were told they were leaders who needed to be bold. I believed it too, and wanted them to bring back this enthusiasm; the only issue is that I didn’t have a system in place to keep the investment going. Don’t get me wrong, I had a youth ministry, but these teens were more than just participants, they were leaders, and all I had waiting for them was peer ministry.

While there isn’t anything wrong with peer ministry, it’s only one way to develop student leaders. If your parish is all about investing in the young church, then you need to look at leadership development as something more than standard faith formation. To develop student leaders, you need to have a vision that involves:

Defining The Makeup Of A Leader

We can be good at telling teenagers what a leader does, but can we show them who a leader is? Being a leader is more than being a hard worker, they are disciples of Jesus Christ, and they have values that reflect the mission of the parish. When you clarify the makeup of a leader for your teenagers, you give them a bigger picture of what it means to be a part of a local parish.

To embrace the bigger picture means going beyond creating service opportunities for teens. While it helps them learn a few things about leadership, they might miss out on getting the full scope. In addition to providing opportunities, you need to teach teens the characteristics and values of being a leader.  When a teen has a clear idea of what you expect out of a leader, it helps them develop a plan of how they can get there.

Constructing A Leadership Pipeline

Once you clarify what it means to be a leader, you need to help them get there. While there are different ways of assisting young people to become leaders, you need to have a plan. A leadership path allows  you to share with teenagers:

• What you want them to know about leadership
• What you want them to do to develop the necessary skills
• How you are going to invest in their ability to lead

Again, there are different ways to establish a leadership pipeline, but it should include:

• Teaching them the characteristics and qualities of a leader
• Inviting them into consistent opportunities to test out their skills and knowledge
• Content to help them discover their unique giftedness
• Partnering them with adults who can mentor and coach them

Putting together a plan should be simple, but it does take time to develop. If you’ve never put together a leadership pipeline, start with teaching the characteristics and identifying areas where the young church can serve. What takes time is developing a culture where people see student leadership as a form of discipleship and not just another club.

Bringing Everyone In Your Parish On Board

One of the main reasons we’re limited to peer ministry is the lack of opportunity to serve outside the youth ministry. The way you’ll create those opportunities is by clearly communicating and advocating the benefits of teens serving in a variety of capacities in your church.

It all starts with getting the pastor on board, and if he is a little reluctant, talking to the parish council. As Pope Francis describes:

(38) Those of us who are no longer young need to find ways of keeping close to the voices and concerns of young people. “Drawing together creates the conditions for the Church to become a place of dialogue and a witness to life-giving fraternity”. We need to make more room for the voices of young people to be heard: “listening makes possible an exchange of gifts in a context of empathy… At the same time, it sets the conditions for a preaching of the Gospel that can touch the heart truly, decisively and fruitfully”. – Pope Francis, Christus Vivit

When we allow young people to not only serve but lead alongside adults, it enables us to be more life-giving and have a more significant impact on our surrounding community. To get your parish leadership on board, invite them to visit your ministry and share with them resources like Christus Vivit. When you get buy-in from other leaders, it will not only strengthen your leadership pipeline but your entire approach to reaching the young church.

If you want to develop student leaders, you need more than just a group of talented and enthusiastic teens. You need clarity of what it means to be a leader and the resources to invest in the young church. As you head into this next season, spend time dreaming about a new generation of leaders.

What steps are you taking to develop leaders in the young church?

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