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i used to teach youth ministry in bible college. i did it for over 25 years. i suppose i’m still doing it now…just not in a bible college.
one of the things i have always said to young youth ministers…including the ones we have had at north point…is that your number one goal on any youth event or trip is the physical safety of the kids you have in your care.
it always sounds so…spiritual.
we can talk all we want about developing spirituality and godliness and creating spaces where kids can have genuine experiences with god and with each other. but…the thing mom and dad want more than anything is for junior to come back breathing normally and with both legs attached and a psyche that’s still in one piece.
safety first. i’ll be the first to admit that i have spent my whole life stretching kids and trying to put them in places where their faith can be molded and an authentic trust in god can grow. we’ve backpacked and rappelled and canoed. we’ve traveled to other countries and spoke to strangers and avoided contaminated water. we’ve gone without sleep and worked until our blisters were bleeding and pushed past exhaustion. we’ve built fires and used power tools and made kids do things they were totally scared to do. so does that sound like safety first?
we’ve taken legitimate risks. calculated and carefully planned. but they were still risks. real faith does not develop in the insulated and in the hypothetical. it only grows where prayer really means something. faith grows when kids are trusting god for something that really matters.
but faith and trust do not equal stupidity.
it’s important to me to be a part of a church family that takes the personal safety of our kids seriously. background checks are not a joke. this whole penn state-sandusky thing should be a loud wake-up call for parents and churches and any institutions that care for kids. there are pedophiles among us. there always have been. there always will be. but they won’t get to kids on our watch.
we must always work hard to find great volunteers and train them well. the care and safety of the kids that parents trust us with must be a priority of the highest order. always.
kids need sunday school teachers and discipleship group leaders and mentors and coaches and people who will come along side of them to help show them what it means to follow jesus and trust him with their whole hearts and minds and bodies. and to teach them to pray and live out their faith and study the word and be disciples in a dark world. it’s not easy.
but we will be safe.
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