If you’re anything like me, you’ve been a Christian for a fairly long time. I mean…you don’t want to sound like a know-it-all…but you’ve been around the Jesus block a few times. Heck, apparently you’re so good at following Jesus, somebody decided to put you in charge of helping teenagers follow Jesus too!
I’m being facetious, of course. We know that each of us has a long way to go in our faith journey of becoming more like Christ and living out the gospel. But from our positions of leadership, it can be easy to get so caught up in teaching that we forget to learn. That’s why the team at G Shades is launching this blog.
Before G Shades was ever a youth ministry curriculum strategy for the benefit of middle and high school students around the world, it was a life-altering faith paradigm for the benefit of…well…me. It began not as a ministry idea or a business idea, but as a series of conversations between me and God around belief and the cross and the process of transformation. I was a 24 year old youth pastor who had been a heavily churched Christian for the vast majority of my life, and this idea of seeing life through the lens of the gospel wrecked me in the best way possible.
So I’m glad you’ve found G Shades Youth Ministry Curriculum. I think it’s going to be incredibly helpful for the faith development of the students God has given you to shepherd. But I cannot stress enough that it isn’t just that insecure 7th grade boy or rebellious 10th grade girl in your ministry who needs to start seeing through their G Shades. You do, too.
You need to be encouraged and exhorted to see through the lens of the gospel in all of the areas you’re navigating as a youth worker. Because the cross intersects with your SUFFERING in ministry. The cross intersects with your PURPOSE in ministry. The cross intersects with your DEFINITION OF SUCCESS in ministry. The cross intersects with your pursuit of WORK/LIFE BALANCE in ministry. The cross intersects with your COMMUNITY in ministry. The cross intersects with EVERYTHING.
And when we can become youth pastors and directors and coordinators and high capacity volunteers whose internal narrative is heavily, heavily influenced by the gospel narrative because we see ourselves, others, and the world around us not through our flawed, human lens, but through the lens of what God has done for us and is doing in us through Christ, we’ll be much better off.
And I think our students will too.
So this is the first post of our monthly G Shades blog. We hope you’ll check back in next month to learn and grow with us!
