5 Things Your Student Staff Need for Leadership Development
What does an invitation to the next level look like for a college-age person in your community? Hopefully, it's framed with a vision for potential impact and an opportunity to develop that vision! As we think about the invitation for the next generation, what can we include in how we support and shape their calling?
Here’s a list of suggestions for what to include and how to lead as we continue developing adolescents for the sake of the gospel.
Christo-centric. Jesus’ model of developing the disciples gives us a beautiful framework for how we are supporting and shaping the next generation of leaders. When we are developing others, how much of Jesus’ model are we using versus our own? Who are we centering as we plan, learn, and process?
One on One. Leadership development will require more resources than you think-more of your time, energy, creativity, etc. Life on life development is wholistic (modeled by Jesus!). How does the conversation at a table over coffee integrate with walking through the community or school? It happens when the same people are in both places. Planning for intentional time together to talk and act on what is being taught is essential to leadership development.
Direct Ministry. How can you model the dynamism of your own calling towards disinterested adolescents? Adolescence is evolving. As the world has become more connected through social networking, the framework of incarnational witness will be changed. It will be difficult to develop others in a context in which you have no working experience. There was no age limit placed on the Great Commission!
Clarity. Are you clear on your goals when you make the invitation into the leadership development AND does it match what you’re offering once they say yes? Development is intricately tied to process. It’s hard to gain momentum within the process if there isn’t consistency in direction.
Other Voices. You do not need to be the only voice they are learning from. Bringing in diverse voices and perspectives is critical for the development of kingdom perspective. We value and uphold diversity, equity, and belonging as a mission. Does your leadership development plan for others match those values? Where can you imagine and execute adding breadth of authorship, ministry experience, age, gender, and the list goes on!
To read more on our findings on Student Staff click here for the executive summary.
Written by: Marisa Avramovich stock.marisa@gmail.com