Six years ago, high school senior Kay Hammond was eager to become more involved at Red Brush Christian Church in Louisville, Illinois, but wasn’t sure how, and she wasn’t the only one. Kay and 13 other junior high and high schoolers came over to her aunt Penny Arnold’s house to brainstorm some ideas
“They started taking ownership, and when they realized they had a say, a purpose and a responsibility, that’s when the conversation took off,” recalls Arnold. “I just sat back and watched the Holy Spirit work in these students.”
By the end of the night, they had created Step Forward Student Leadership Program, with the mission of intentionally raising up students to be leaders in the church. Step Forward involves older students mentoring younger students.
“It’s teens leading teens,” explains Arnold, who serves as children’s minister at Red Brush Christian and also is supervisor of Step Forward.
The program has created a culture of learning to step out of one’s comfort zone. For instance, the church hosts an overnight camping trip every spring that attracts 350 area third- through fifth-graders, and it’s run by Step Forward students.
“It’s wonderful to see these teens pour into these young students,” says Arnold.
Having worked as a principal and teacher, Arnold recognizes that sometimes kids need a nudge, calling it the power of the push. The first year at the overnighter, several student leaders nearly quit because they were so nervous. Now those same kids are writing and acting out skits, preaching, singing, praying and emceeing.
“The younger kids watch the older kids, and they can’t wait until it’s their turn to lead,” says Arnold.
The fact that each student mentors a younger child helps develop relationships among students as well as their self-confidence.
“It’s beautiful to watch older kids come back from college, and teens or little kids go up to them,” says Arnold. “It’s broken down a lot of those barriers we naturally have, not just at church but socially.”
On Sunday mornings, Arnold has first graders doing communion devotions, so by the time they get to Step Forward, they are game to do anything. “It’s ingrained in them to start serving when they’re young.”
And for those younger kids who feel anxious, older students support them. For example, recently a little boy had forgotten that he was supposed to do the communion devotion. He became flustered, so a sophomore in Step Forward helped the boy with the Scripture reading. After the boy delivered the devotion, the 10th grader patted the child on the back and told him he was proud.
“The little boy beamed,” says Arnold. “The praise meant more coming from an older peer.”
Step Forward is all about learning, and teaching students how to serve and get deeper in their faith. They also do discipleship classes where they discuss how to share the breadth of their testimony. Other church leaders have contacted Arnold to ask how they can get a similar program up and running. Her advice is simple: “I tell them not to worry about the masses, but rather to start small with their committed kids. It’s not a short game. It’s a long game because kids have to buy into it.”
One woman told Arnold that the junior high and senior high students at her small church weren’t motivated to serve. Arnold asked if the woman had any young kids who wanted to do something.
“That’s who you start with,” Arnold told her. “As they lead, the other younger students will follow suit.”
Since Step Forward started six years ago, Red Brush Christian Church has had nine students attend Bible college. In addition, several Step Forward kids went on mission trips last year. Not only has the leadership program grown, but so has the congregation. Teens and children are inviting people to church, and that’s the kind of culture that needs to grow within the adult community.
“Sometimes I’ll ask our members to greet people and pass out sermon notes, and they’ll look at me like a deer in headlights, confused as to what to do,” says Arnold. “Some people don’t learn by verbal prompts; they need to actually see it. We need to show people how to serve like we do the kids. If we did that more, we would have people serving like crazy.”
A large percentage of students stop attending church after they graduate high school. As Arnold watched the Step Forward kids, she realized that this is the missing component to keep young people involved.
“This is what Jesus did—he started with a small group of men and taught them, walking alongside them and showing them how to do it,” says Arnold. “When you have kids leading kids, they listen.”