Here at King Hill, we're trying to do more than just typical Student Ministry. Did you know that almost 90% of teenagers turn away from their faith after high school? We've identified what we think are the causes of this problem, and we have three main ways that we are trying to fix it.
Our ministry focuses on growing teenagers into adults that follow Jesus Christ-- not "religious people" with no personal experience with the Son of God. We do that with three main emphases:
1. A Spiritual Faith. If Christianity is really a relationship and not a religion, then we must know God and not just know about God. We value solid Biblical teaching, however, we know that simply affecting a person's brain will never transform their life. Jesus taught us that God is Spirit, so the only way to know Him is through personal spiritual experiences, like worship, prayer, and Bible study.
2. Experience. We value Action over Activities. In my personal experience, a great deal of a ministry's time, energy and money is spent on entertainment-- resources that could be better used serving those in need. Furthermore, Jesus taught his disciples with hands-on training; by being an example, sending them out into the real world, and then evaluating the experience. We focus our time on preparation, service and ministry.
3. Relationships. Jesus said that a student's learning is complete when they become like their teacher. Notice that he didn't say, "when they gain the knowledge of their teacher." Discipleship, or spiritual growth, is done through a relationship with one's teacher. That is why we use mentoring as a way to teach others to follow Jesus. This is part of both experience and a spiritual faith. The Bible teaches that parents are to be that mentor in their student's life. I find that this is a role that parents would like to fill, but often don't know how. One of my primary roles in this ministry is to do all I can to help, equip, train and encourage parents to walk alongside their students as they walk with Jesus.
