STRONG ADULT LEADERS-- that's one of the key ingredients to doing effective youth ministry, particularly with at-risk young people. So, what does a strong adult leader look like? Well, when I was at Urban Promise, I saw some incredible young adults serving as the leadership team with the kids and Street Leader teens. These interns (mostly college kids from around the country-- and world) had a heart for kids. One woman in particular, the assistant director, was amazing! She had such a good rapport with her peers and the Street Leaders, and the kids just adored her-- everyone wanting her attention or a hug. What was different about her? She listened intently to people, showing real interest, care, and concern. She was funny and playful, which helped the kids to relate to her. And from my short interactions with her, I'd say she was pretty non-judgmental as well. She was happy for people to be who they were, and she loved them right there for it.
When I went to volunteer with the middle school summer camp program, I was unsure how that would work, seeing as though I was a white, middle class stranger who was coming in just for a day to hang out with the kids. I wondered if I'd feel completely useless or conspicuous, and if the kids would react well to me. Luckily I'm not shy, and so I was able to jump right in pretty well. I noticed that the kids, even though they didn't know me, showed me lots of respect and listened to me-- sometimes even more than their regular 'teacher' (who I must say was a bit passive and unassertive).
I also differed in my approach to the teens. The summer program is like summer-long VBS and I was in a "hodge-podge" classroom that happened to be making a 4th of July snack. The snack was pretty messy, but I always made sure that the area was clean before and after each group came into the room, because I think the kids should see that they're important enough to deserve nice things. The regular teacher went for the economic/ time-effective route and waited to clean up until the very end. Also, because the treats were so yummy, several kids kept trying to steal bits and pieces while no one was looking. Once I noticed that, I further packaged things up. I didn't want the kids to have the temptation and wanted to lessen the opportunity for them to take the items. The other teacher thought they were old enough to know better, so did nothing. I agreed that they should know better, but offered that it didn't hurt to help them out by not making it so easy. Then there was free-time to play games and stuff after the snacks were made. I tried to find some kids on the edges of the room to play games with-- one 6th grader even kicked my butt in a mathematic strategy game! I was a little surprised that the other teacher just sat on the side and didn't play.
By the end, many kids knew my name and gave me hugs as they left. Just the little effort of trying to get to know them and just BE with them helped me out, I think.
Then, when I went to Bethlehem to visit with the Southside Ministries coalition summer kids program, I saw some other great leaders. Southside Ministries was doing a month long program with neighborhood kids, and it was only on day 2 when I went there to visit. But, it was clear that the kids were having a really good time. There weren't many kids in the program, so the staff-kid ratio was high. And the kids seemed to respond very well to the teachers. I sat in on the music portion mostly, and the leaders worked very well with the kids-- from letting them climb up onto the piano bench, to helping them to carefully memorize lyrics, to affirming and encouraging kids to do solos... you could tell that the leaders cared about the kids.
I think that strong adult leaders: listen, make kids feel special and important, are able to be on-level with kids (play with them, joke with them), are encouraging and affirming, and really love what they do- working with kids.
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