choose to do is influenced by truly knowing and discovering who we are? And knowing who Jesus is and giving our life to him is the birthplace and journey of discovery of who we are in him. Who do our young people think they are today and what kind of challenges are they facing as they come to faith and begin that new life of discovering who they are in him? What kind of challenges and/or opportunities are set out for them in the environments of our churches to learn, grow, make mistakes, develop and mature? Do our church environments have a purpose to encourage, believe in and release our young people into all that God has for them? I believe church is only for young people – young because you haven’t lived for very long or young because you are young at heart. Our household has the joy and privilege of including four boys – that’s four mini-men ranging from 6 to 15. Over the years my wife and I have enjoyed creating a home environment we love and enjoy. If I took you on a whistle-stop tour of our home and gave you a snapshot view of a week in the life of our household, you
would quickly see a focus on our children, their well-being, security and development. Our home environment is purposed with our children’s development in mind, and naturally so. The environment of home can and should be one that our children can develop in safely and be released into all that God made and purposed them for. The culture of our church family and the environment of our church facilities and programmes have the very same responsibilities to our young people. Are our church environments, cultures, facilities and programmes alive with the purpose of seeing young people released into all that God made them and purposed them to be?
programme’s purpose is for young people ‘to know God and make God known.’ Over the years I have yet to experience parents banging the door down, clamouring to get their children onto such a programme. The general trend has been one of great hesitancy in parents about their 18 to mid 20-year-old son or daughter signing up to the programme. The preferred focus on further education or starting their career is paramount and a year on a local church discipleship programme is seen as simply avoiding getting on with the more important and serious aspects of life. Releasing our young people into all that God designed them for faces all kinds of challenges.
Challenges
Purpose
Over the last eight years I have been involved in running a local church discipleship programme and I’m already excited about its tenth anniversary. With a focus on releasing young people, the programme creates an opportunity for youngsters to serve their local church for a year in an environment of great discipleship and ministry preparation. The
Release is best by design rather than default. In other words, a purposeful recognising, equipping and releasing is a priority. Identify emerging leaders and provide opportunities to serve in every area and aspect of the life of the church, its local community connections and missional focus. Is church the most alive, full of passion and vibrant place you encounter? Here is a quote from a book called, ‘Practising Passion – Youth And The Quest For A Passionate Church,’ by Kenda Creasy Dean: “Teenagers are heat seeking missiles. They’re drawn to fire. They yearn for experiences that will channel their passions. And by and large they are not detecting many signs of life from the Church.” I believe that we should be channelling the energy and passion of young Christians, releasing them into leadership responsibility. This requires great discipleship including mentoring. To bear fruit, relationship is key but mentoring loses its point when no meaningful relationship is formed between the two people. Let’s set a course purposefully to identify, disciple, mentor and release our young people into all that God purposed them for.
our youth contents cover 23