This post is part of the Foundations Of Youth Ministry series. Check out the rest of the series!

I recently wrote about the benefits of involving students in ministry.

In that post, I described five of the main benefits I’ve discovered in plugging students into the ministry of the larger church body.

But there are also challenges to this.  Some might call them the dangers of involving students.

Here are some of the biggest challenges that I’ve experienced.

Student involvement tends to be less streamlined.
Let’s face it:  It’s a lot easier to do it ourselves, than to take the time to teach a student how to lead in a ministry.  There is a learning curve involved, and it might be messy at first, more cumbersome.  You have to take the time to show a student how to serve in a particular area.  They need your guidance, at first.  And they may stumble a few times until they get the hang of it.  People might complain about the choppiness.  But that’s all ok.  Each of us learned to walk before we could run.  And the simple fact of the matter is that the more people you have involved, the slower the process is going to be.  And that’s perfectly ok.

Student involvement increases the rick of failure.
Students don’t have the lifetime of experience to draw from that adults do.  When students get involved in ministry, they may make decisions and take actions that lead to failure.  Students aren’t adults.  They will make mistakes.  They will fail.  And if the church body doesn’t understand the philosophy behind student’s involvement in ministry, they may not be supportive of this strategy.  The students must be supported by the church body and the church leadership… in spite of mistakes and failures.  The eventual results will be well worth the wait.

Student involvement threatens some adults.
Many adults will be threatened when students become involved in ministry.  Some of them would rather receive all the attention.  Others prefer to be the authority.  And still others respond with anger or apathy.  Having students involved in the ministry of the church requires adults who understand and love the students, who show trust in them, and who are willing to take risks with them.

These are some of the challenges that I’ve come up against when involving students in ministry.  Next, we’ll take a look at a biblical basis for involving students.

What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered when involving teens in the church?  Let me know in the comments.