Ways to Encourage Bible Students to Self Advocate

Growing spiritually isn’t always easy. For young people, this can be especially true. They may feel at times as if they are wandering in a circular maze with no clear way forward. Parents, ministries and churches can make it even more difficult by silently telegraphing the message that young people should sit back and wait to be fed what they need.

In reality, young people need to be taught to self advocate for their spiritual growth. They should be encouraged to be the instigators of seeking knowledge and guidance rather than receptacles merely waiting passively for someone to give them the next bit of spiritual assistance.

There are some things Christians – whether they be parents, ministers, church leaders or ministry volunteers and mentors – can do to encourage young people to self advocate for spiritual growth.

  • Discuss it regularly in a variety of settings. Talk about what it means to advocate for your personal spiritual growth. Discuss some of the things a person trying to grow spiritually does. Don’t talk about it as something only adults can do, but how children of various ages can begin advocating for their personal spiritual growth in age appropriate ways.
  • Encourage asking spiritual questions and expressing doubts. Young people should feel safe and encouraged to ask their questions and even express their doubts. If they don’t feel they can express their questions and concerns, they may not get the appropriate help they need.
  • Teach them how to find answers in scripture. Note, “how” to find answers. Knowing where to find the answers they already have been taught is helpful, but to self advocate for spiritual growth, they need to know how to find the answers to their new questions in the Bible.
  • Encourage practicing spiritual disciplines independently. Students should be ancouraged to self advocate by making time to do the things that will help them grow spiritually like Bible study, prayer and reflection. Over time, they should take personal responsibility for doing these things rather than waiting for an adult to remind them.
  • Teach them how to find reliable sources to help them understand scripture. There are some things in scripture that are difficult to understand. We need to teach young people where to find reliable sources to answer their questions. The internet is too full of unreliable sources of information to neglect teaching young people where to find reliable, biblical answers.
  • Encourage them to find and use a variety of Christian mentors. One mentor may not be able to help a young person grow spiritually in every way they may need help. A young person may need a mentor to help them develop and use their similar gift to serve God and another one to answer their questions about a topic like science and God. Encourage adults to make themselves available as mentors and encourage young people to reach out and ask for the help they need. Teach the adults in the congregation to help young people find an appropriate mentor if they are approached and cannot help.
  • Allow them to respectfully contribute to the congregational dialogue. Young people should be encouraged when they have an idea for a service project, Bible class, sermon topic or other idea that shows interest, initiative and engagement with scripture and their church family. If it isn’t possible on a congregational level, help them find ways to use that same idea in other ways. Give them guided practice in leading in spiritual endeavors by using those ideas and teaching them how to implement them.
  • Teach them how to respectfully advocate for the spiritual health of themselves and their peers when they see things that are deterring that growth. They may or may not be correct, but they need to be heard. Often we make unnecessary mistakes because we refuse to listen to the truth from young people. They can see and hear things we may miss. Without this knowledge, our decisions may make things worse rather than better. We need to teach them how to give constructive criticism and we need to become much better as servant leaders at receiving and acting on important constructive criticism.

Teaching young people to self advocate for their spiritual growth is teaching them to be active rather than passive Christians. It is encouraging them how to be intentional, productive and take personal responsibility in their attempts to grow spiritually. It is teaching them how to have a voice in things that can impact their spiritual growth and the spiritual growth of others. It will take time and intentionality on the part of adult Christians, but it is something we simply must find time to do.

Categories Bible, Elementary, Faith Based Academic Program, Mentoring, Special Needs, Teens
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