I had the privilege of interviewing former Shoal Creek student Hannah Goodwin, who is currently a sophomore at Missouri State University in Springfield. As Hannah went through seven years of our student ministry programs, and was "born" into Shoal Creek when it started 20 years ago, I thought she might have some insight into how to get the most "out" of Shoal Creek for current student families. I asked Hannah three questions:
- What were some of the most impactful factors that affected your spiritual journey at Shoal Creek?
- What was it like for you to leave your spiritual community at Shoal Creek and transition into college?
- What would you like to say to current Shoal Creek students on a spiritual journey?
Check out what she has to say, and let me know whether or not you think this helps you as you understand the spiritual journey your student in currently on.
For me, there were a couple really big take-a-ways:
1. At the heart of good "ministry" (student or children or adults--doesn't matter) are always meaningful, authentic, RELATIONSHIPS. Programs, services, or groups alone can NEVER create lasting spiritual movement in the life of another human being. There always has to be one purse picking up the calling of God to pour their life into another person. For our student ministries, it is VITAL that we find some adults at Shoal Creek who are willing to say "Teenagers matter! And I want to do something about it!" Would you think about what God might be saying to you about this? Currently, we very much need some adults like the "Emily's, Sue's, Erin's and Ashley's" that Hannah talked about, so that we can make our current Shoal Creek teenagers feel accepted, loved, and pursued.
2. Transitioning from the Shoal Creek spiritual community to a post-HS community will be one of the biggest challenges they've ever experienced so far in their lives. There's just no way around it, and no student escapes it. They are going to be challenged to make new friends, and the core of their identity will in a sense come under attack. As they try to fit into their new culture/community, they're going to try to figure out how much of their faith to "let show" to the new people, new classes, new professors, new employs, etc.--is "acceptable". Their desire to fit in and find acceptance will challenge their core beliefs and values. AND, most significantly, we (the adults and parents), aren't going to be their to hold their hand. They'll be left to navigate that on their own. The reality that is coming at them in the future should shape how we parent now. Which leads me to what I think is Hannah's biggest theme that she's trying to communicate...
3. Start finding ways to get them out of their comfort zone NOW! Help them figure out how to make their faith less about "Shoal Creek" or "going to Church" or even "attending a group"--help them develop their own personal, individual relationship with Jesus Christ. Hannah is not the only former student to emphasize this point. I did an interview with another former SC student named Philip Potter (which you can find here), and he emphasized almost the exact same need for students to not rely on Shoal Creek, or Sunday services, or small groups, for their own spiritual journey. In both cases, these students addressed how much more they wished they had read their bible on their own as the fueling force in their spiritual journey, instead of just defaulting on the surround programs or community to fuel their spiritual journey.
As parents and adults, it really is up to US to help our students develop their own personal spiritual journeys by placing a priority on reading the bible personally. That starts with us. If we cannot on our own determine what God is saying to us through the bible, our children have very little hope of figuring out for themselves how to figure it on their own.
If you need help figuring out where to start with reading the bible for yourself, then check out this link to several sessions Shoal Creek offers each month to help people figure out how to Read the Bible, Attend a Group, and Begin to Serve (all three really highly correlative factors for positive spiritual growth).
Point blank--there's probably nothing more important to the long-term health of your students spiritual journey (and quality of life) than teaching them how to read the bible weekly, and discerning what God is saying to them personally through the bible.
As parents and an adult community of mentors, we have to model reading the bible to them. Not only that, we have to invite them to do that with us, by creating time around the bible as a parent-child due, so that what God says starts to matter most in their lives as well as ours.
Attached is also a "3-Column Study" guide that will teach you how to read the bible for yourself, so that you can teach the exact same principles to your student. This kind of activity needs a weekly presence in our homes to help our students have the best chance they can at knowing Jesus from now into eternity.
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