A Tough Year for Seniors
Phew! This has been a tough year.
As our Seniors are finally able to be recognized and celebrated for their accomplishments in high school, there are a couple things that I think that are important to remember:
- Our Seniors are joining the adult ministries of our church. This means they are going to be asking questions like, “Why are there no games during this life group?, “Am I going to be able to throw water balloons at the life group leaders?”, “Why is the music so quiet?”, and “ I wonder if my parents will be ok if I drink five Mountain Dews during life group…” But even though this is comical, there is a truth in the transition. Our seniors are going to feel misplaced for a while. Regardless of how hard we have tried to incorporate them in what we are doing, and in spite of the fact that we have worked to make them apart of the local church body, they will still feel a sense of misplacement.
- While we are excited for the next phase in our Seniors’ lives, they feel like they are going through a break-up. Every break-up leaves one party questioning what the new “normal” is. What friends will they retain? How will they move on without this piece of their life? In these ways, our Seniors are hurting and trying to process a new life outside of youth group, without parents, and with many new influences.
- Our Seniors will soon be facing mixed emotions at unmet expectations. Everybody has in their head an image of what they believe their life will be. Whether that is the dream job, the perfect relationship, the ideal income, or the social status, no one is immune to it. As our Seniors head into the work face, off to college, to gap years, and beyond, they will in their mind have unrealistic expectations for how the world around them will respond. In this way, they are walking into one of the most turbulent times of their lives. With the safety net of family security and the familiarity of home, they will begin to feel the weight of the world in ways that are foreign to them.
- The world WILL knock them down. No matter how well we have tried to prepare them and how much we have allowed them to learn, life is unfair. Though they are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and some of them more optimistic than we could ever understand, we know that the Bible has told us that the world is cruel.
Why are all of these points so important? Because we, as a church, have a DUTY to come alongside our young adults and help them understand the love of Jesus through the lens of scripture and our life experience. If we can, in this time of a student’s life, reaffirm our commitment to them, we can make a lifelong impact in their spiritual journey.
So, how can you help? Use your directory app to call a college student and pray with them, make them a care package, encourage them in whatever they’re pursuing, and help them understand their responsibility in the local church to serve by being an example with our own lives.
The more we can spur this generation on to godliness, the more impact they will have for the Kingdom.