Finding a Rhythm in Your Ministry
By Laura Larsen
The opportunities to incorporate sustainable spiritual practices into student ministry are nearly endless. We can advocate for students to incorporate rhythms of weekly corporate worship or daily personal devotionals. Practices of solitude and silence or actively working for justice in the world. Praying in a labyrinth or approaching the scripture through lectio divina. It is becoming important to me to spend the moments I have with students introducing them to practices that will sustain their relationship with God not just for a lock-in or a weeklong trip, but for a lifetime of obedience in the same direction.
The new small group I led began to regularly practice the Ignatian Examen together. Frankly, sometimes it was all we really got to during our one-hour meeting, but it always happened. We would take a few breaths and practice noticing God. We would remember that if we believed that God was active in the world then it must mean God was active in our city. If we remembered that God works in the lives of God’s people then we could be reassured God works even in our own lives. So we would take a few minutes to remember the day and the ways that the action of God intersected our lives.
I’d like to be able to say that this single practice changed everything for those girls, but I don’t know that it has yet. My confidence comes in knowing that this practice became a weekly rhythm, and from knowing that this rhythm is sustainable enough to carry them into a lifetime of noticing the present activity of God around them.
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Take a few moments with your students to just BREATHE
We invite you to BREATHE: an experience that will give you a taste of a variety of spiritual practices designed to allow you time and space to hear God’s voice. Consider experiencing BREATHE as you take a walk, go out for a run, sit by a body of water, reflect in a quiet space, or one filled with activity. Imagine Christ is with you, hearing the desires of your heart and wanting to speak to you. Listen, anticipate, savor and celebrate. We pray that BREATHE will be filled with God size surprises.
