How to Get Teens to Tell Their Story
3 Comments Published by Terrace Crawford on 2/18/11 at 8:28 AM.
A few months ago I felt God leading me to step away from the mic and hand it over to our teens. Specifically, I felt him leading me to help them tell their story.
Soon after I met with our student leaders and told them I wanted to create a series called "STORY" and allow students to tell their stories each week. The leaders loved it!
We've been running the series now for 5 weeks and its still going. And God is using it. Teens are sharing their faith, their struggles, and their hopes and dreams too.
Here are a 3 quick benefits of doing this series as I see it:
- Teens can communicate to their peers - The second teens grab the mic they have an instant audience. Their peers listen to what they have to say.
- Teens invite their friends - You could get Justin Bieber to show up to your meeting and there wouldn't be as much excitement as you have when teens get to share. They invite their friends to hear their story. Just last week a young lady was scheduled to share her story and told me before our meeting "I invited the whole city!!!"
- God uses their story - We've seen some amazing things happen during our series so far. Students invite their friends, share their story with a captive audience, and lives are changed. God is using it!
Labels: Communicating, Youth Pastors
Sounds great. Now do you ever give a subject or do they just tell their story?
I don't give them a subject. I meet with them and walk with them through their story. I then help guide them as they need it and pray with them (and for them) prior to their talk.
//TC//
I think that is a great idea! Some teens rather listen and can relate more to someone their own age.