by Hosanna Koo

This is my first year serving on youth staff, and I’ve been touched by the thoughtfulness and maturity of the youth as well as the joy and steadfastness of the other staff. The eager and ready hearts of the youth and the sacrificial love of the staff serve as amazing testaments to the power of God. Many of the youth at Lighthouse have grown up in the graces of this church and have been lucky recipients of the sound teaching that brings to light our state as sinners and the greatness of God to save rebels. Youth is an age when they take the knowledge that they have been taught as children and seek to gain deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian.

Personally, the most prominent thing I’ve learned so far from serving on youth staff is to be patient. As with other children’s ministries, every week can look the same. While talking with Pastor John at the youth retreat, he mentioned that those six years spent in youth can seem like six years of no fruit. At first I was alarmed and admittedly, a bit discouraged, but I was reminded that God works in his own timing, and he does not need broken vessels to do his work. We as teachers impatiently and pridefully expect our preparation and words to have a life changing impact upon the children we teach, but God doesn’t need us. Yet at the same time, how amazing is it that God would use those who are weak to carry out his will? I, along with the other youth staff, are just one little tool that God is using to shape the hearts of the youth.

God doesn’t promise that we would see the fruit of our labors. If we were promised, wouldn’t it be so easy to labor for the pride of our reward coming to fruition? Week after week, I must remind myself that God IS at work and he IS active in the hearts of the youth in many ways that we might not be able to clearly see. He is a living, breathing God. He uses the staff to minister to the youth, but I am again reminded that we are not their primary teachers. Their parents provide primary teaching and guidance, and as youth staff, we support parents to instill in the youth the gospel and a love for God. We must trust in God as the only one who is able to save, who works in his own timing. God is the only one who causes any sort of spiritual growth and who will cause the youth to bear fruit in due time. We are called to be faithful with what God has given us, planting seeds in the hearts of the youth, and praying that God would grow these youth to be men and women who are solid in faith and who build their lives upon his word.