They've Left the Building...Now What?

No this isn't a response to COVID-19.  Although I could talk about some of our teens not coming back to youth group if I wanted to.  For us, we have only been impacted minimally by those who don't want to come to youth group wearing a mask.  In fact, we have even seen new students start to attend!  This is more a post about seniors who have graduated and left.  Staring at me working at my desk each and every day are pictures of seniors who were here for a time and almost all of them are not now.  They have either moved out of the area or moved to another church or moved on from their faith entirely.  Sadly, I think there are more from our ministry that have chosen the latter.  That may be a reflection on me and our youth ministry or it is a condition of our culture as a whole.

One problem I always seem to have when I run into a former student is to try to remember who the other students were in their graduating class.  Our youth ministry is small enough that I can remember their names and can reminisce about fun times we had together.  But I usually can't remember exactly who they graduated with.  That's an important detail because I have so many fond memories of trips and events and if I can't remember what class they were with then that changes what memories we ponder about.  Not a big deal, but big enough for me to want to do something about as I move forward.  What I started doing is taking each student's information that I have in my students' database and cutting it and pasting it into a new tab named by the class year they graduated.  I should have been doing this years ago.

There are two things I want to do moving forward.  The first, is after a group of students has been graduated for five years I want to send individual letters to each student in that graduating class.  In this letter I want to write just to let them know I still care and think about them and hope they are doing well.  I could take this one step further and write to each group after 10 years, 25 years, you get the idea.  But first I want to do well with just after five years.  The second thing I want to do moving forward is to send a care package to each student the first year or two after they graduate.  I don't want this to just come from me though.  I want to give other youth group members, youth leaders, and church leaders the opportunity to contribute as well.

You might be asking, "Don't you already do this?"  Sadly, the answer I would have to mutter underneath my breath is a sheepish, "No."  I haven't done very well taking care of students once they graduate our youth ministry.  Out of sight, nearly out of mind I guess.  I get so focused on the students here and now that I lose sight of those who are no longer here.  What successes have you had in having an impact on students' faith beyond the four walls of your youth ministry?  What have you done to let your students know your church and youth ministry still cares about them?  I'd love to read your feedback!  Thanks for taking the time to read.