Not Just Chaperones

If you have ever been asked to chaperone something, maybe a school dance or a field trip, you know that it is not a desirable job to have. You may start with the best intentions but soon you realize that you are basically the fun police. The sentences you say most often are “Don’t do that!” or “Shhhh! Listen to the person who is talking up front.” You, mostly, don’t get to participate in what is going on and pretty much just stand on the edges of the group watching for rule breakers. You know that you might be helping a little bit in the moment but your work as master chaperone is not going to have a lasting impact. Many people believe that the adult leaders in Fusion and Thrive are basically chaperones. This could not be further from the truth. Let me tell you a story about the long term relationships that are being built and the deep spiritual impact these selfless volunteers are having! In order to develop relationships throughout a student’s time in youth ministry, they are assigned to a small group which is led by a couple of adult volunteers known as leaders. One of the most impactful times for the leaders and students is the small groups during the last part of the midweek meeting. The leaders start discussions and prompt the students to dig deeper into the message of the night. These times provide the leaders great opportunities to speak into the lives of the students and, in a case just recently, lead a student to Christ. The message for the night had been on spiritual maturity and taking the next step in their relationship with Jesus.  Small groups had ended, parents were arriving, and any chaperone would have called it a night and been praised for a job well done. However, our 8th grade girls’ leader is not a chaperone. She is a leader and her work for the night was not done in her eyes. So she took the initiative and asked one of her girls in her small group if she had started a relationship with Jesus. The girl said she had not made that decision; right then and there the leader led her to Christ. That’s the type of ownership and personal responsibility the leaders in Fusion and Thrive possess. She acted not out of duty but out of a desire to introduce a girl to the love of Christ. If you asked the leaders, they would probably tell you that they don’t view themselves as special. They would probably say they are just doing what the Lord has led them to do. I would have to disagree with them. I think they are special. It takes a special person to intentionally enter back into a middle school or high school group. It takes a special person to give up their free time to go to games, plays, concerts, hang out on weekends, give students rides, pray for students, give up full weekends to go on retreats, and to deal with all the joyous things that teenagers do. That’s special. I would guess that there would be a few other people who say the leaders are special too: the students. That’s because they know their Leaders love them and are there to help them grow in their faith. They know they’re not just chaperones.  -Patrick Frost Middle School Youth Pastor