I live in Oregon, where everyone thinks it rains all year round. It does rain a fair bit for 8 months or so, but some time around late June or early July, it just stops and often doesn't rain a drop here in Newberg until the end of September or early October. So, what do you do with all the flowers in your yard that have lushly grown during those rainy months?
What I do first, is watch them for a bit. I want to do my part from an environmental standpoint, so I don't just rush right out and start watering the first time we hit a few warm, dray days in June or July. I keep a bit of an eye on how they're doing. After a week or two, however, things start to brown up or wilt a bit, and I start watering. I do it kind of old school. Just me with my thumb over the open end of a green hose, for about 45 minutes most every evening after dinner.
This summer, I've been noticing some interesting things and they got me thinking about the way I do youth ministry. We've got a fair bit of garden in both our back and front yard and kind of a wild collection of assorted flowers in them. Every year, my wife plants a few new things that she's either bought or that have been given to her. Those get most of my attention. I've discovered over the years that that first dry summer is the hardest one for the new plants and making sure they make it through to the fall rains is my top priority. In fact, if I'm rushed at all, those are the only things I water.
This summer, we had rain a couple times in the first half of July. That's pretty rare here and because of it, I really laid off the watering for longer than normal. I even went a couple weeks after the last rain to make sure we'd really hit the dry season before I started in on watering everything. By the time I did, it seemed to me like most of our established flowers and plants had hunkered down for the heat. They didn't seem in danger of dying, but they'd quit flowering, had dropped a few leaves, browned a bit around the edges. Making it ok, but not really thriving.
And then, I started watering them every evening. After two weeks of daily watering now, I've noticed that yes, the new plants seem to be doing fine, but the old ones are perking up quite a bit. The rose bushes and all those other flowers whose names I don't know are growing some new leaves, budding forth with new rounds of flowers. It's a little second spring in the backyard! Clearly, while most of these plants and flowers were getting by with the minimal attention they were receiving, things were a whole lot better for them when I started giving them daily water and care.
Watering last night, I got to thinking about this and ministry. I've taken well over 20 years worth of kids to Young Life camps. And, if you have too, you know that feeling of coming home with kids that have just begun a relationship with Jesus. You REALLY want to follow up well with them and help them make it through the first few months. Lots of attention given, lots of care.
But, if you're like me, you've also got a ton of kids that have been around awhile. You don't worry much about them anymore. At least not often. They don't get lots of attention, particularly after camp. I mean, you've got to keep the new plants alive and so they get the time and the water, right? I've been thinking a lot this summer about why kids often start really well in our youth ministries and then fall away. I think one big reason is that we treat kids that aren't new a lot like I treat the "seasoned" plants in my yard. "Oh, they're doing fine. They've made it through the hard part. Sure, they're a little dried out and brown around the edges, but no need to worry about them particularly." Maybe they are ok, and will make it through without much attention from us, but just like ALL of the plants in our garden seem to be very happy that I'm giving them some daily attention and care, I believe this is true of kids in our ministries.
Just because a kids' parents are really established in the church, doesn't mean she's not struggling with stuff. Just because a kid has been consistently coming to Bible study for a year or two, doesn't mean that he doesn't have questions or doubts that gnaw at him. Just because a kid is a "junior leader," doesn't mean that he or she isn't depressed, or struggling with pornography or cutting or an eating disorder or...
One of the nicest things about watering all of our plants every evening is, I stand and notice each of them every evening. Notice changes from the day or week before. Notice weeds growing up around them that need pulling (now, whether that actually happens is another story).
Do we pay the same kind of attention to our non-new kids in ministry as we do to that "baby Christian?" Do we see them, notice them?
