Andy Stanley recently said something to the effect of, “The church should be the safest place to talk about anything.” I’m no Andy Stanley, but the other day while talking to one of our interns I said something that I thought was equally brilliant: “Always make extending the conversation one of your goals.”. Now, if you combine these two thoughts, you have a golden nugget of wisdom for youth workers!
“Church should be the safest place to talk about anything, and once a student opens up about something, don’t shut them down with easy answers or judgmental proclamations…instead, extend the conversation!”
Some related questions for you to ponder (and feel free to answer in comments if you’d like!):
– If students think there are taboo questions or topics at church, where will they go to talk about those things?
– Do you trust the input they will get from the other sources concerning those questions?
– How much pressure do you feel to always have an easy, confident, answer for every topic a student raises?
– Many questions deal with doubt…can helping students embrace doubt be a good thing?
– Where does that pressure come from: Self-imposed? Parents? Your church culture?
– Why is the art of “extending the conversation” so vital for youth workers?
– when scripture doesn’t speak clearly or directly about a topic, how do you address it with students?
– On a scale of 1-10 (10 being best) how “safe” a place is your youth group for students to ask honest questions and express
doubts and struggles?
This article is so spot on it makes me sad that we take such things for granted that only the “expected answers” are the acceptable ones. Thank you.