Structure: The Blessing & The Curse

I’ve recently been invited to be a part of my church’s student life ministries again. For some reason they look at me, what I’m involved in, my leadership capabilities, and whatever else as a good fit to lead a group of 5-8 students throughout the school year and possibly beyond.

To put this ask into context, I was a part of this ministry for a few years just out of college and haven’t been involved for the last couple of years except when needed to help lead or teach about missional engagement or about NeighborLink. Part of the reason I stopped getting involved was because of the practical structure of events that not only the students had to participate but the ones I had to go along with just to be a part of it. The structure held our students back from finding their own way at times. Long story short, it was no longer a good fit for my leadership style and abilities.

I like to think I’ve matured quite a bit and learned more about the necessity of structure and have become less selfish about how I lead and follow.

As I ponder this year’s direction as it’s being cast by the staff leadership over student life and where they are asking me to come alongside them, I start to feel the tension of structure vs. spirit led leadership. I’m far more interested in having 5-8 guys that I’ve been empowered to lead and begin building relationships and create our own structure than I am about coralling those students to be a part of the whole.

The tension doesn’t lie in my belief in the staff’s leadership and the structure they are proposing but in the nature of structure fighting against that natural and organic nature of how we learn to live out this faith we’re trying to develop.

This same tension lies in NeighborLink. The more structure I create the more “drone" like actions I feel I’m pushing people into rather than creating an environment that pushes people to begin figuring it out themselves.

So, I wrestle with blessings of structure that provides a road map and checkpoints that allow people to feel affirmed in their progress and the curse of structure that provides a crutch for not figuring the right way forward on our own.

We’ll always find our way on our own. It may cause us to go the wrong direction, encounter road blocks, or stop and ask for directions, but we’ll always find our way.

I’m still not sure where I fit in with student ministries, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out.