“Do you ever sext?”
These are words I recently overhead in my student ministry. A group of guys were unaware that I was just around the corner as they carried on a serious conversation about their experimentations with “sexting.” In case you are wondering, sexting can be defined as “sending/receiving text messages with sexual content/pictures.” As you read this, you are probably saying, “No way, not my student.” Honestly, if I could have picked out students whom I would have suspected as “sexters,” these guys would have been at the bottom of the list. Truthfully, even the strongest of student leaders can fall in this area.
As a culture, we are passing out cell phones like candy and we aren’t even thinking about the danger. If I surveyed the students in my student ministry, I would guess that around 90-95 percent of all our students 6th-12th grade have a phone. There is nothing wrong with having a phone, but we need to be aware that phones have the potential to be a gateway to trouble. We’ve written off cell phones as harmless communication tools because they have a four inch screen. What damage could be done with a 4 inch screen? We guard our laptops with passwords, put filters on our family computer, safeguard our families with accountability tools, but cell phones are somehow forgotten. This must change!
If we want to protect our students and discipline them for the purpose of godliness (1Timothy4:7b), we must be willing to do hard things. We must be willing to ask our students difficult questions about what they are doing on their phone. We must be willing to closely monitor pictures, viewing history, text messages, and app purchases. We must be willing to cut off data packages, restrict text messages, or just cut off phone usage all together.
In my few short years in student ministry, I have helped parents and leaders guide their kids through sexting issues, inappropriate pictures being sent to boyfriends and girlfriends, and pornographic apps that would make anyone cringe. This is a very real issue! We must wake up and engage our students with the gospel. Let’s stop worrying about being their friend, and instead, let’s be their accountability!
