We closed out Generation Change last night with Stewardship Sunday. The series lasted 5 weeks, in Uprising (high school) and Resurrection (7th/8th) we used Dave Ramsey’s youth group curriculum for the first 4 weeks, in Ascent (5th/6th) we adapted past material and had a regular teaching format. For week 5 of all three programs we participated in Stewardship Sunday where we challenged the students to make their giving to God through Nativity (their local church).
While the Dave Ramsey curriculum worked great with teaching the students about budgeting, saving, spending and giving, it probably wasn’t used in the best way possible. The students were engaged for the most part; however, the curriculum would have been better used in different forum. One idea we have for next year is offering a four week workshop for parents with teens using this resource. It seemed that the students were certainly understanding the material, the question was whether or not they were applying it at home. We could probably change this by bringing parents along in the process.
The big win from this series is that we did present the material in a way that was tangible, applicable and understanding. In the past we’ve given them all the spiritual reasons as to why it’s important to be wise with their money; however, in the end we fell short when showing them how to apply those principles into their lives. This time that has definitely changed, which means the foundation for stewardship in our student ministries is there.