Caring And Helpful Teenagers?
I've been thinking recently about how a lot of people have unreasonable expectations of teenagers. Unreasonably low, that is. People have a tendency to think that teenagers won't do anything but sit on their behinds and watch tv, play video games...or, if those two options aren't available, sit on their behinds and sulk.I've found something very different. Teenagers who are given proper teaching and encouragement are often eager to serve, both in church and community, and around the world.
I've seen this in our church youth group, where we have repeatedly given our teens opportunities to serve others, and over and over again we've had teens step up to the plate and get their hands dirty doing the work we set before them.
I thought I'd make a list of some of the things our teens have done in the past year...
- Splitting and stacking firewood for someone who needed help
- Raking lawns for the elderly and shut-ins
- Working with younger children each week in our church's children's program
- Practicing weekly to lead music in our youth group meetings
- Writing letters to a former youth group member in boot camp
- Writing letters and cards to a youth group member in the hospital
- Writing letters/emails to a missionary in Moldova
- Making "wordless bracelets" for a short term missionary to take on a trip to Moldova
- Donating their own money to a building fund for Child Evangelism Fellowship in Moldova (as of this writing, our youth group of about 30 teens has donated over $700)
- Rolling coins from our missions offerings...about three gallons worth...
- Shoveling snow from an elderly widow's roof
- Serving as "big brothers" and "big sisters" for an event in our children's program
I'm sure there's more, but that's what I thought of off the top of my head.
This year in our youth group I've been teaching from the book of James, and one of the verses I've talked about several times is James 1:27, which says:
Pure and undefiled religion in the site of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world
True and valuable religion is religion which puts its hands and feet to work caring for and serving others, and if we take the time to teach this, the teens do listen...contrary to what so many people think!
I was thinking about this because it's school vacation, and yesterday one of our teens spent an hour and a half working with my father, doing yard work for one of our elderly church members...not exactly what you expect a teen to want to spend his time doing during vacation. But if we find them the opportunities, and are willing to work with them, you might be surprised at how the teens will respond.
Posted On Apr 23, 2005 at 4:43 AM
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