The Payoff?

Tonight we close out this stewardship series with the high school students. I’m glad it’s over because we get to go back to live messages instead of a video…but one thing that lingers in my mind is whether or not we really took advantage of the situation. Did we produce fruit through this series?
Most of the time we won’t see instant fruit, that’s a given frustration of student ministry, this is something that needs to percolate in the mind and heart. And most times a message needs to be repeated over the years. But this series is important because it can show us two pieces of fruit:

1. This will help them in the health of their future. If they have learned to be wise with money, they can show them selves that it isn’t something to worry over, that it’s just a tool and in the end God will provide us with what we need.
2. This series also reveals how meaningful we are as a student ministry and a church. Tonight we challenge students to consider making their giving, their offertory up to God a part of Nativity and that’s not because this is their local church. We want them to give to Nativity if they believe that what we are doing is a part of God’s mission and vision for the local church.

This series isn’t just for the students, it’s a way of measuring how affective and clear we are in connecting others to God’s love and spreading that out to the world. I’m hoping for positive results for both.