I'm curious to know: What has student leadership looked like since the pandemic started? Are your youth too tired and Zoomed out to really lead anything? Or has someone found a way to keep your youth engaged even amidst the exhaustion?
Interestingly, our student leaders are happy to attend planning meetings, but they are less committed to attending regular meetings. We are moving to utilize breakout rooms more frequently, with the hopes that more intimate conversation may help.
@kweikel11 I'm curious about this. It seems like there's some difference in the planning meetings, as opposed to the regular meetings. I wonder what that might be... perhaps the ownership piece that Kelly raised below. Are the planning meetings required for leaders? Is there a deeper level of engagement, and the regular meetings more surface-y? Do they feel extraneous in the regular meetings, or are they put to work? All just wonderings I have!
I'm wondering if they like the feeling of "ownership" as participants in the planning meetings but somehow feel they lose that "leadership" role in a weekly meeting?
We have found that while students are still willing to lead--to serve as worship leaders, volunteers for younger kids' programming, planning for their own group--they have much narrower bandwidth for planning and organizing. The more user-friendly and turnkey I can help make it the smoother it has gone. Hopefully as we begin to move out of this season they can take back more ownership but in the meantime I am eager to meet them where they are in terms of their energy and creatively levels.
@chughes I can definitely appreciate what you're saying. It's a lot for young people to hold these days! I'm glad it sounds like you're finding a place of balance in taking what they are happy to give, and leaving the rest for another day.