| By: Jon Davis
Bishop Howe in a recent article he wrote for Encompass
holds youth ministry as an ever increasingly important
ministry of the church. One powerful statistic points
to 90% of the people who will ever come to Christ do
so before age 20, that should be motivation enough
(Billy Graham Association, 1992). George Barna of the
Barna Institute points to age 13 as the prime age for
a person to embrace Christ, all of the cognitive, emotional,
social, and spiritual factors are there in place for
a person to make that decision (Generation Next, 1994).
We will take time in this column over the next few
months to examine what is essential in reaching young
people with the Gospel and how to build a successful
youth ministry.
Looking at the variety of youth ministry taking place
in our diocese and around the country, one might ask
the question: What is necessary to a long term, successful
work with young people? I have thought about this recently
in the consulting I have been doing with churches in
Central Florida and beyond. There are some factors
that seem necessary for youth ministry to work over
the long haul. First and foremost is the commitment
of the church to the concept of youth ministry. It
is not merely having a youth group meeting on Sunday
night, but more so it is a commitment to an over all
strategy in ministering to young people. This strategy
involves all the opportunities for Christian growth
in a church: acolytes; youth choirs; ushers; altar
guild; assisting in nurseries or Sunday school; and
yes, youth group. It is seeing how the home and family,
the church and school, shape a young person into walking
out their baptismal covenant. Specifically we want
to see how the ministry of the church has an essential
role in this process of Christian growth.
The one ingredient absolutely
necessary is a church’s
long term effort in holding youth ministry as a priority.
It is the weaving of youth ministry into a church’s
identity: We are a church who loves young people and
want to see them know Christ and grow in their knowledge
and love for Christ. It is fulfilling the promise we
make at baptism (primarily to children) “We will
do all within our power to support people in their
life in Christ.” (BCP p. 303)
This commitment will sustain
a youth ministry work through numerous transitions
of leadership whether
it be the priest, a staff youth minister or volunteers
that moves on to other calls. It is developing a youth
ministry that flows from the life of the congregation.
It is the long term investment of parishioners, vestry
members, parents, and concerned individuals making
the difference in young peoples lives. It is youth
ministry being in the fabric of a congregation so that
when a youth minister moves on he or she does not take
the youth ministry with them. A church’s resolution
to do youth ministry must be strong. Leadership is
important and though a strong leader might come on
staff to guide and inspire youth ministry, the leadership
from within the congregation is essential. Having transitioned
on staff through two youth ministries I have seen the
benefit of being in a place where youth ministry was
generated by the congregation. My role was to organize
lead and inspire the people to this important call,
praying that God would raise up men and women who would
see young people as their primary ministry.
There are other factors that
point to success in youth ministry and we will look
at those in future articles.
Staff people, training, volunteers, vision, finances,
are some of the issues, but without this underlying
principle of committing ourselves to the long haul
of seeing young people grow into men and women of God
those are mere Band-Aids on a more serious problem.
The challenge is to us all: Are we doing all we can
to support people (especially young people) in their
new life in Christ?
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