My work with Teach One Reach One (Parenting Like Hannah’s parent ministry) has me working with a lot of urban ministries and mission fields. When I meet a new group, one of the first things I do is ask what challenges they face. Inevitably, one of the things I hear is the groups that come in to serve their ministry are not well prepared to help.
While they acknowledge the groups mean well, often they leave a wake of problems instead of service behind them. There are numerous reasons for this, but one is that the groups come in “knowing” what the people they are about to serve need. While it’s true we all need to be loved and to hear and understand God’s message of redemption, most of the things these groups “know” about the people they are about to serve is little to nothing.
There are a lot of ways to help teens learn to minister to others more effectively, but one of the most important is teaching them to ask good questions and really listen to the answers. Seems a little crazy when you are taking your teen or a group of teens to go serve in a soup kitchen. Obviously, the people are hungry. That’s why it’s a soup kitchen. The reality is so much more complex than that.