Student Leadership Team Basics: 3 Ways Not to Describe Student Leadership
Once you know why you're creating a leadership team, what you're looking for in the students who are on your leadership team, and how you'll select your student leaders, the question still remains, how do you present the idea of a leadership team to your teens for the first time?
The best way to do this is to be honest about what your team is.
As you know, I'm an advocate for student leadership teams that are focused on discipleship. Because of this, whenever I talk about my ministry's student leadership team, I do so in terms of growth. I talk about how applying to be part of the Student Leadership Team will give interested teens an opportunity to grow in their faith, to grow in their relationships with others, and to grow as a leader. I also make a point of saying we're not looking for one particular kind of student. Instead, we're looking for people who like to be up front, as well as those who prefer to serve behind the scenes; We're looking for introverts as well as extroverts.
In addition to explaining what your student leadership team is, when presenting this idea to your teens (and their parents) for the first time, it's also important to be clear about what the team isn't. For this reason, avoid using these popular phrases to describe your church's student leadership team.
