You know, those toys you could buy from the 25 cent machines at the grocery store?
The toys that had a gummy hand on a gummy rope that would stick to almost anything?
As a young child, I thought those things were the COOLEST EVER. When my mother would take me grocery shopping, I would ask for a quarter, and run to the corner of the store where the SuperBalls, plastic rings, and Sticky Hands took residence. And once I had obtained my sticky prize, I would practice with it on a variety of objects (in the store, actually, which got me in trouble more than a few times). And it worked, too--those sticky hands would adhere to a number of different objects.
At least, for a while.
Eventually, the sticky hand would be covered with dust, hair, and various other disgusting substances that would render the hand ineffective. Sure, the hand could be washed, which would restore some degree of stickiness, but it was never quite the same, and there was always a point of no return--a time when no amount of washing could return it to its former glory.
I guess it's time I got to the point.
I feel as though the "sticky hand" serves as an apt metaphor for the way I've been doing student ministry.
I'm from the old school of student ministry, and yes, I know that when it comes to student ministry, "old school" could technically mean "I just started last month." In my case, "old school refers to a particular methodology, which involves three tenets: Isolate the students (giving them their own space, classes, ministers, and (when you're REALLY growing) worship services; Educate/Indoctrinate students (depending on your particular theological persuasion); and Satiate students (with truckloads of food and entertainment).
Whether anyone would agree that this was an "official" methodology or not is not the point; this is how student ministry has been done in the past, and I'm sad to say, I've been part of that trend.
But let's be honest--like the "sticky hand," this model of student ministry "worked" for a while (whatever that means). It still "works," if by "working" we mean that it has the potential to draw students to youth meetings. But it also created an atmosphere of comparison and competition, and a church version of "keeping up with the Joneses" that saw small student ministries grabbing at whatever trend or fad came down the pike in order to boost their numbers to levels comparable to those of larger churches. Often (at least in my case), programming choices were made based on what "worked" at those churches, not on intentional planning and reflection on what the Holy Spirit was saying or what the students in my context needed. It was programming based on desperation, pure and simple.
Sling the "sticky hand," and see what it grabs.
The point, I guess, is that like the eventual fate of the"sticky hands," this method of student ministry is losing its stickiness for me. Fewer and fewer "fads" are drawing students to our ministries as they become less impressed with the pomp and circumstance we "Sticky Hand ministers" often substitute for faith formation.
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I know it will mean a top-to-bottom reevaluation of what student ministry is and isn't, of what is absolutely foundational to the process in order to call it student MINISTRY. I don't think the answer will be a new fad or trend, or a new flashy program released by a mega-church that we transplant directly into our own ministry contexts.
I think it will be a "grass-roots" transformation, one that begins (and has already begun) within the hearts and souls of student ministers everywhere.
I'll be attending the National Youth Worker's Convention in Atlanta this year, and I hope to receive some training that will expand my vision beyond the "old school." Sticky Hand Student Ministry--the desperate grabbing at anything that holds out a promise of "working"--just doesn't stick with me any more.
After all (to paraphrase Jesus), if a sticky hand loses its stickiness, how can its stickiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
And no, I'm not interested in Sticky FOOT Student Ministry.
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