Life Group Leader Tip: You Can't Teach Passion

All of us began volunteering with student ministry, because we were determined to make a change in the next generation. We weren’t content with sitting back and watching the next group of students follow blindly into lives of emptiness and brokenness. We wanted them to do it better than we did it—to keep them from having the same hurts and scars that we had. Hopefully, most of us started our journey as small group leaders fueled by a passion to make a difference in students lives. But, if we’re not careful, we can lose that passion and fall into routine and apathy.

Student ministry is tough. There are no guarantees that we will ever see one ounce of change in a student’s life. Sometimes, we pour our entire lives into a student just to see them return to the same sin pattern that we know will lead them to destruction. But we can’t give up! We can’t lose the passion we had when God called us to minister to students. However, it’s our natural bent to burn out. To give up. To lose heart.

The good part is that our God never gives up. His fire never burns out. His passion for His children never dies. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow! We HAVE to find a way to obtain God’s passion or it’s game over for us. We can never fully invest what we need to invest using our own passion. We have to capture God’s passion for His children before we can ever think of making an impact. So what are you doing to catch God’s passion? Are you seeking God’s heart? Are you spending enough time with Him? Is your time with Him worth anything or is it just checking off a list? Without a connection to God’s passion we will fail. Are you connected?