A few nights ago was the season finale of our senior cell family. In our ministry structure, cell families are regional collections of 6 small groups. One of the things we do to help our students with college transition is cluster all of our senior small groups into their own cell family. We meet together every other week and talk about transitioning into adulthood. Last night was the last cell family of the year. It’s tradition for us to give our small group leaders the floor on the last night and let them share their final words of advice to our graduating seniors. They all shared from the platform of years invested in their small group so their words carried some weight for all and immense weight for a few.
One of our leaders said something that I will remember for the rest of my life—something that reminds me that connecting small groups of students with a caring adult is probably the most important thing we do. This particular leader said, “Whatever happens from here on out, whatever mistakes you make, we want you to know that we are here for you for the rest of your lives.” The beautiful thing is that I know from watching her lead her small group that she meant every word of that statement and I know the same is true for the other leaders sitting around that circle.
Ever since I heard Kara Powell explain the core concepts of Sticky Faith in a breakout session at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference, I have made the “4+1” concept a key component of our volunteer recruiting and training. We’ve asked for a four year commitment for as long as I can remember but we began visioning volunteers to continue mentoring their students during their first year of college. I believe that this concept has made a significant impact in the lives of our graduates.
Here’s the clincher: if you recruit the right people and vision them the right way, not only will they give you 4+1, they will give you 4+life. I understand that not every leader has this kind of capacity and not every small group relationally cements together in this way but even if only half of them do—think of the incredible lifelong impact our student ministries could have. This is why I believe that nothing we do is more important that leveraging inter-generational mentoring relationships. Life-changing student ministry isn’t complicated. Find adults who love Jesus and are willing to love a handful of students, equip and vision the heck out of them and unleash them to be the pastors in your ministry. 4+life.