Adventures in Student Ministry

Today’s student night was a bit different. We are on the back end of a great day of Film School, and we were all feeling a bit restless. So we kicked off the evening with a game. Simple game… move a ball from one goal, drop it into another, then move it back.

Catch 1… They had to pair up with another student and could only touch the ball with pool noodles.

Catch 2… There were 3 levels to the game.

1. Softball
2. Billards Ball
3. Ping Pong Ball

It was hysterical watching the students work together and learn to adapt together to the different weights and sizes of the balls to accomplish the goal in front of them.

After the game, we came into the student room. There, we celebrated the work of the students who took part in Film School. For their first project, they had to make a promo for Hero Academy. This was a great time as the students had the opportunity to share their creativity with each other. One interesting thing did happen with this task. One team took on the challenge of having 3 different editors try to edit the same footage separately. The result was 3 very similar videos, but with a different flair and style.

So why did we do all of this? Simply put, whether working on projects in film school, playing a group game, or just going through life, we are all important. We each have a role to play. Even if we have our own flair and style, we are each equally important.

Read: 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

Here, Paul is addressing a group that was developing a lot of issues with how they treat each other. Paul reminds them that there’s only one Saviour and if you are saved, then you’re part of the one body. In Christ, there are no classes of individuals, no race, no social status. We are all one in Him. Meaning we need to be intentional about seeing each other as equals. We are all people saved by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:15-19

Here, Paul uses creative, illustrative language to make his point. If everyone were to refuse to take part in the Body as a whole simply because they weren’t filling a specific role, then things would break down. Not everyone can do certain things. Not everyone can be a worship leader; if so, there’d be no one to lead. Not everyone can be a Kids worker, then we’d not have someone to serve in other areas.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:20-21

Paul warns us not to elevate ourselves to the point of dismissing others. Every person serves a purpose in the body of Christ. You need everyone in it in some fashion. We can’t just be dismissive of others as if they are below us.

Read 1 Corinthians 12:22-26

Here, Paul takes the example of one body to another level by discussing the fact that we are meant to honor and care for each other. Some need more care simply because of what’s taking place. It doesn’t make them less than others, just that they are in need of more care. On top of that, he points out a powerful thought that if one member of the Body is in pain, we all hurt, and if one celebrates, we all celebrate.

We need to have compassion for each other. When we see someone in the body struggling and hurting, we should do our best to act not just as a shield, but also care and provide guidance. On top of that, we should become each other’s biggest cheerleaders. We need to celebrate the wins others have.

Here at THP we call this idea of everyone working together for the greater good, One Serve team.

So how did we end tonight? We were in a position where we didn’t have a worship team to help lead worship for us tonight. One of our girls, partially jokingly, said, “Can I lead worship?” to which i quickly replied. “Name a song, I’ll pull it up for us to play through the sound system.” She was joking, but she also had a seed of desire to help fill a need that we had. Her response led to 3 other older girls stepping to say, “We want to help lead to.” So we ended our evening together with worship.