As school starts back up and students get into the rhythm of handling homework, tests, projects, and sports, it can be tough to manage all the pressure and expectations that come with it!
As youth pastors, we have an opportunity to speak into students’ lives, offer practical tips on managing busy schedules, and encourage them to observe their academic journey within the grand landscape of their faith journey. Here are some tips for helping students navigate school and faith.
Host Youth Room Study Halls
Students will have difficulty balancing homework and everything else they have going on. If you are a full-time youth pastor, there’s likely an hour or two of overlap where you might be required to be in the office, and students get out of school. Why not offer up the youth room as a study hall for students? They can come in, do their homework, and even consult other friends who might be working on a similar subject. Bonus points here if you can get retired adults in your church who happen to be math whizs or a social studies expert to come in and help tutor. Did somebody ask for intergenerational ministry?
Help Students with Time Management
Time management isn’t just something that students struggle with; it’s something we all need to have a good grip on! As a youth pastor, you can model this to your students and give them tools to help manage their time. Whatever time management techniques you have used in the past, you might be able to share with your students so that they can learn how to better manage their time. We all have timers on our phones and calendars to set for reminders. Why not use our technology to help us get tasks done? This could be a big benefit for you as a youth pastor because you might be helping parents who are also trying to give their students time management tools. We like to say that different voices saying the same things help solidify important lessons! Maybe we can help parents by teaching students helpful time management tools.
Offer Encouragement and Vision
Seven years seems like a short time and also an eternity. Trying to think of seven years is a wild proposition to a student. To a 14-year-old, that’s half of their lifetime! But to those of us who are a little older, seven years goes by pretty quickly. The reality is that school isn’t forever. Yes, we want students to have a good foundation for their lives immediately after their teenage years, but the reality is that school isn’t everything. You might remember that you didn’t use trigonometry well into your 30s. But will it really matter? We must help students understand that their education and school life are important but not the end-all experience. Helping students put their life journey now into context versus where they might be in 10 to 20 years is something that we, youth pastors, can help students grasp. We need to remind students what really matters. And yes, giving students verses reminding them of how much God loves them even when stressed can be incredibly helpful!
What other tips would you suggest here?