Indianapolis First Church of the Nazarene Indianapolis, IN
Mark Holcomb (now ONU Professor)
Indianapolis First Church of the Nazarene is a church of around 1000 regular attendees. Their youth ministry is a cell group based ministry, which meets in homes throughout the week. They also have a weekly gathering, which includes worship, drama and more. Their overall student leadership team is called The Summit. The Summit meets once a month and is open to anyone who wants to come. This is a shift from what used to be an election driven model, which generally became a popularity contest. The result has been a team of students who are driven to implement the ideas that they create at these monthly gatherings. There is a yearly retreat for The Summit where they plan the calendar, cast vision and discuss leadership principals. The Summit also plans retreats and other events and run them.
Another form of student leadership is the role of Cell Group Leaders. Most of these leaders are part of The Summit, but are not required to be. This form of leadership is more intensive that The Summit and the expectations are higher. Cell Group leaders are trained at a retreat at the beginning of the year. This retreat is separate from The Summit Retreat. Juniors and Seniors are trained to lead senior high cell groups and Sophomores and Freshmen are trained to lead junior high cell groups. There are always two cell group leader’s for each cell group, preferably one guy and one girl. The two leaders alternate the role of leading the group. They also share the responsibility of contacting no-shows and following up on visitors.. All of the cell group leaders meet for a Leader’s Cell Group every week. There is one Leader’s Cell Group for the Senior High leaders and a separate one for the Junior High leaders. This weekly cell group allows each student to take turns leading the lesson. They always use the upcoming week’s lesson and then critique, review and give feedback on the topic and leader’s style. This allows the cell group leaders to actually practice being a part of a small group, while also leading one. Every Cell Group, including the Leader’s Cell Groups are supported by adult mentors who guide, support and encourage the Student Leaders. In order to be a cell group leader you must be involved in a cell group, the Leader’s cell group and be willing to accept on-going training. A leader must also be involved in relational ministry to their students and be showing a commitment to tend to their own souls.
Powell Grace Brethren Church
Kary Oberbrenner
Powell Grace Brethren is a four year old church plant of a Columbus mega-church. They already run around 700-800. Their student leadership team is more practical than missional. The student leaders are in place to serve the youth ministry and enable it to function. They meet on Wednesday nights before youth group. They originally met on Sunday mornings, but realized that 25% of their youth group was made up of teens who don’t go to their church on Sunday Morning. Therefore students who didn’t go to their church on Sundays (i.e. Catholics, etc,), but were committed to the youth ministry, were eliminated from student leadership. They also feel that in urban settings it is essential to contain as much of your ministry as you can to one night, due to the vast amount of outside activities pulling student and adult leaders in all directions. They used to have nominations for student leadership, but the youth pastor shot that down after doing it for one year, because it became a popularity contest. Student Leadership is now open to anyone who is willing to be held accountable to the standards they have set for student leaders. These expectations include attending youth group regularly, being an example in dress and conduct, attending a local church regularly and most of all being authentic. Authenticity is one of the most important attributes. They value honesty, confession and community and model it through the adult leadership team The Student Leadership team is only an affirmation of what they already are. They are rarely recognized formally in public. They give perks to the leaders, but the perks come with lots of responsibilities, but a lot of accountability. The students are divided into three tracks or Core Groups. They meet from 5:30-6:00pm for prayer and teachings on leadership principals and then split into their Core Groups for an hour. The three tracks are Youth Band, Drama Team and Miscellaneous Things (set-up, prayer, announcements). This ministry values student leadership in a practical, hands-on way, which helps the adult leaders not burnout. They have also begun to see the need for a higher level of commitment and expectation for seniors, in order to keep them active. In response they are now training two seniors to lead the student leadership meetings with the youth pastor. The youth pastor meets separately with these two seniors. The youth staff feels that if you don’t have student leadership you will plateau and burn out. This leadership must be hands-on and practical, and must include training on leadership principles. The students are invited to half of the adult meetings in order to keep unity among the leadership. The adult meetings that the students are not included in occur after youth group on Wednesdays. The adults meet for Half-Time, where they review the evening of ministry while the student leaders clean-up the youth space. A unique aspect of their leadership team is that it moves in different semesters, due to sports and other clubs. They feel that you need a Student Leader Representative in each major club at school, so if a student chooses they are excused from being a leader at youth group for that semester. They are then welcomed back when that season of activity passes and they are able to commit to faithful youth group attendance again. The students must be faithful in attendance for the semesters they are involved in. For more info on their ministry you can go to www.gbcpowell.org.
Chester Church of the Nazarene
Tim Haynes
Chester Church of the Nazarene is a small, river-town church in West Virginia. Their approach to student leadership is through practical church body based involvement. They have three student leaders who are appointed at large to their NYI Council, which has a total of 6 other members, including the pastor. Two of these three students have felt a call into ministry. These members take on genuine responsibility. They dream, plan, lead a bible study for the other teens. They are in charge of monthly Sunday youth afterglows (securing people, locations, etc.). They create and mail a quarterly newsletter to teens. They are also are actively involved in ministry of the church. Two of them serve on the Sunday morning praise team, two others are ushers on Sunday nights and some Sunday mornings. They have planned church-wide events, such as a Christmas Parade float to help reach out to the community. They also help out in other areas when needed, including preaching on Sunday morning, and leading the adult bible study on a few Wednesday nights. It is a strong conviction of the church that the teens are included in the life of the body of believers.
The expectations of the student leaders are that they are members of the church and of NYI. They are expected to demonstrate an active Christian lifestyle, where they are seeking a deeper walk with Christ and growing in Him. The Pastor also wants to see them struggling and grappling with issues of faith, because it is sign that they care about their relationship with Christ.
Youth For Christ Findlay Area
Don Leader
Youth for Christ in Findlay does encourage the practice of using student leaders, but leaves the implementation of it to the local club. They do not offer an area-wide program, plan, training or network for the clubs to plug into. Less than half of the clubs presently practice student leadership, with the three leaders who do all being full-time staff. They typically look for kids who are regular attendees to campus life, have made a commitment to Christ, is growing as a disciple and is reaching out to their friends. Student leaders are expected to attend meetings and training, but both are very limited. Any student is able to apply by filling out an application form and signing a covenant which says that they agree with the mission of YFC, and will make lifestyle choices that honor God. They don’t help plan the meetings as much as they simply help out with them. They hand out materials, perform roles in skits and help the leader with the function of the gathering.
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My own view
My basic definition of a student leader is one who truly sets the example in faith, in speech, in life, in love and in purity. Servant leadership is more than a title or a phase, it is a lifestyle. Serving others is leading others. I have transitioned through a few phases of the practice of student leadership in my own ministry. Peer ministry best typifies what I now practice. I believe that it is important for students to be ministered to by students. The primary attribute I look for is love. Teens need loved, and they need to feel loved by other teenagers. I see it as our student leaders’ role to make sure every youth Christ entrusts us with feels that Godly-kind of love. I do involve the students in the program planning, and they are also involved in helping make our weekly gatherings happen, through various responsibilities. These areas are not their primary focus though. These roles do not require preparation time and fulfill the purpose of learning to be a servant. One of our primary roles of peer ministry is that of Cell Group leader. We rely heavily on small groups throughout the school year. Each group has an adult mentor, but they are in place to guide the student leader and hold him/her accountable, not to lead the group. The student leader is primarily responsible for caring for their group; following up on them, encouraging them, calling them and more. My leadership team is open to anyone who would like to apply and is willing to commit to the covenant we have agreed upon. I do pursue those students who I see the desire or potential in, but it is open to others. One of the primary commitments for any leader is to be involved on Sunday nights for The Core. The Core is a group of students who has decided the dig into the core of who they are, who God is and who they are in God. Not every member of The Core is a student leader, but every student leader, must be a member of The Core. Every member of The Core is expected to lead the way and set the example at church, home, school and everywhere else. These students are all being trained on what it means to live the life of a Christian leader in every area of your life. I learned so much from talking to the first three ministries. Each of them were very intentional and focused with their leaders. They had a plan, they had their purpose and they were putting it into action. I was challenged most by the innovative ways that they are recognizing student leaders, without making it a pride thing for the students. They are truly trying to build leaders, and not just use them. That is huge!
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