7 Things I Pray for my Students

The meeting was more productive than I could have ever hoped. Heading into that meeting, I was filled with a mixture of nervousness, excitement, and hopefulness as I was taking on this new role in a new place. Leaving the meeting that day, we had the momentum, clarity, and direction to push forward and make a difference in these students that I had recently been entrusted with.

I was stepping into my first full-time role after eleven years as a bi-vocational youth pastor. I was confident in what I hoped to see God do, and I felt like I knew how to get us there. That evening, I gathered all the volunteers I was inheriting and brought out a big rolling dry-erase board. The question I asked of us was simple, “what characteristics do we believe God wants to see in our students when they leave our ministry?” To be fair, I had a list in mind already, but it was important that we worked through the exercise together and everyone bought in on what we were aiming at. When all was said and done, after dozens of things written on that board, we had narrowed to 5. These five things become the goal and the things we prayed for in our students.

That was over thirteen years ago and I’ve written about those before on thelongerhaul.com. Since that time, the list has grown to seven, but the question I hope to answer is still the same.

“What characteristics do I believe God wants to see in our students when they leave our ministry?”

Your list might differ from mine, and I encourage you to take the time to think and pray through your own list. Here are seven things I pray would be present in our students when they leave our ministry. We pray these things, and we aim to achieve them through what we do in our ministry. I hope these things will help you as you navigate your own list.

A Passion for God’s Word

I’m not content for our students to just read the Bible or even know how to study the Bible. These things are important, but I want our kids to be passionate about what they find in God’s Word.

I want them to treasure it and find it to be life-giving. I want them to know it, love it, and hunger for it. My hope and prayer is that they will never lose the hunger for it.

We try to do more than teach from it but show the beauty and the depth of what the Bible contains. Our desire is that they never walk away from it or forget the gift it is in their life.

A Brokenness Over Sin

I pray our students won’t gloss over the sins of their lives. I hope students will walk in life with a constant sensitivity to any sin and disobedience in life. I not only want them to be aware of it but also always be broken and humble enough to run in repentance to God throughout their life. Living with a brokenness over sin requires them to walk in humility. In a world and culture that constantly justifies every sin, I long for my students to stand apart.

A Love for the Local Church

It’s no secret that for decades we’ve been losing the battle for students staying in church once they leave our ministries. For me, simply staying in church isn’t enough. I long to see students who love the local church deeply.

This doesn’t just happen. Our churches are filled with adults who “attend” church, but don’t actually love and value the church. It’s a ritual they do every week when other things aren’t deemed more important.

I refuse to settle for that and count it a win. I want students who serve faithfully, who worship consistently, who live out their gifts and talents for the glory and mission of Christ.

A Burden for the Lost

I’m convinced that most Christians don’t share the gospel, not because they’re afraid or feel ill-equipped. I believe that most don’t share the gospel because they don’t even see the lost around them each day. I also believe that God has placed people on the front row of our lives for the sake of the gospel.

I long to see our students be purposeful with the lost God has placed in their lives. I deeply desire for them to be burdened for the lost in the world. Without this burden, they’ll never take the mission we’ve been called to seriously.

A Heart for the Nations

Beyond those God has placed in the path of our students, I long for our students to have a heart for the nations. I long for students willing to say yes to wherever God would call them to go.

I desire to see students who would pause to consider how they might use a degree or career to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

I don’t believe that every student should go to the nations, but I do believe every student should have a heart to see the nations reached. When they consider what career path they will choose, I hope that missions is an option.

A Generous Life

Almost everything in our culture today tells us that what matters most is what you can get. Yet what we find in the Bible is a call to give. A faithful Christian life is a generous life.

I want our students to live generously. I hope they will be generous with their money, with their gifts, with their resources, and with their time.

I hope our students seek to give more than they get. I want them to give to their local churches faithfully, to give to support missions consistently, and to be willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of others and the gospel.

Courage to Live Obediently

Living a faithful and obedient life requires courage. It’s why God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous so many times.

In a world that is broken and in rebellion against God, our students will need the courage to live for Jesus when no one else around them does. If our students have any hope of embodying the six things before this one they will need courage to take a stand when it would be easier not to do so.

I long for fearless students who see faithfulness and obedience to Jesus as worth whatever risk they face in life.

So what about you? What things are you praying for the students in your youth ministry? Have you stopped to consider what kinds of characteristics you feel God would want to see in your students when they leave your ministry? Are you being purposeful in seeing these things built into your students? If not, what is keeping you from doing so?