Where do we find fulfillment in our lives and passions? As preteen ministry pastors and leaders, we know the Sunday school answer that it should be found in Jesus. Yet time and time again we find it in ourselves or in our ministries. It’s as if we buy a shirt because we like it, wear it, receive a bombardment of compliments. And suddenly we no longer wear the shirt for the same reason. Instead we wear it because someone else likes it.
In the same way, the byproducts of our ministry can become our focus. We do it for the compliments, the affirmation, for more kids to come, to see them sing louder. And we miss the reason we “bought the shirt” to begin with. We think, they need me. But really our students need Jesus. Our job is to stay out of the way, allowing God to use us to help Preteens find Jesus. Because it’s not about us, it’s about God.
Our students are saying, “I need you.” Only the “you” is not us, but God.
May we we be pastors and leaders who stay out of the way, redefining our motivation, helping preteens that the “you” that they need is God.
Why does our focus shift? And what can we do to keep it fixed where it should be?
