I learned that doing ministry, especially with younger people is extremely important. I’ve always known the importance of educating the youth. I was greatly impacted by my youth leaders in different summer camps that I went to growing up. They were extremely formational and the development of my faith. But what I learned this week is that service, especially to Jesus is just that; it’s serving.
You cannot do ministry in the kingdom of God without service to others. What I learned this week at SLAM was that it’s very important to get young people to understand who, what, when, where, and why they’re serving. Throughout the house of this week we had students going all over Nashville. Some were serving homeless shelters, others, elderly living centers, and others serving children at kids camps. I learned the importance of continuously reinforcing lessons to children and many different forms.
My time on the Late Night crew this week really helped with this. The entire week we created skits, advertisements to put in our late nights productions, and games to reinforce what was taught and sermons and what was being modeled to them in their service projects. This lesson is one I will carry with me and of the future. You need to give kids many different avenues to understand the same concepts.