Keep The Faith magazine - Britain's leading publication about Black faith

RAISING BIGGER YOUNG PEOPLE

Rev Doug Williams encourages young Christians to impact the world through their faith, lifestyle and spiritual devotion, and admonishes churches to give youth the opportunities to make a difference

The face of youth ministry in our nation is about to change...  I want to make a prophetic statement about youth ministry that I hope will get the widest possible hearing: God is going to bring about spiritual renewal in our nation through a dedicated army of morally-pure, theologically-aware, socially-networked, artistically-creative, relationally-centred, compassion-driven, culturally-relevant young people!

Daniel was young; Joseph was young; Jeremiah was chosen in his youth; Samson was chosen before birth, and moved by God in his youth; Samuel was young; Joshua was a young man trained under Moses for national leadership. Most of Jesus’ disciples were under 20 years old (temple tax was paid by males aged 20 years and over - only he and Peter were asked for payment! - (Exodus 31:12-14, Matthew 17:24-27), and Jesus Himself was only thirty!    

The Scriptures - rightly - prohibit new believers from exercising spiritual leadership, for obvious reasons - their immaturity in the faith makes them ill-equipped to deal with such heavy responsibility, and will lead to temptation and failure for them (1 Timothy 3:6). However, a new believer is not the same as young believer (Timothy was young – 1 Timothy 4:12!)

Youth pastors and church youth workers have got to think bigger than just youth meetings; they also need to be getting young people ready to plant, lead and grow churches! If you think with a bigger remit, you raise bigger young people. Some of the crisis moments in youth ministry are because its vision is too small! People, consumed with a passion to take true Spirit-filled Christianity to the nations, do a lot more than sing Christian rap music, organise parties through Facebook, and get their girlfriends pregnant!

The keys to preparing this audacious army of battle-ready young people is found in the apostolic exhortations given by Paul to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:11-16.

1.    Some people have a problem with the youth - get over it!

Paul said, “Timothy, don’t let the attitude of those who would despise you, turn you off! Keep going, and show in your belief and behaviour that you are not representative of their prejudice and small-mindedness.”

2.    Be a living example

Paul said to this young pastoral leader, “I want you to concentrate on character development issues in the following areas: speech, lifestyle, love, faith and purity.”

The message for youth is clear: if you want to be a godly example to your generation, watch how you speak! Shun ugly, abusive, unclean and seductive talk - no more dirty language. Choose a different lifestyle from those around you. Let your Christian values shape how you dress, eat and drink! Check your leisure pursuits, and if need be, change your company and social circles. Let all your words and actions be governed by love, and live your life dependant on God - live by faith! The closing thought is a key one in such a culture as ours: stay pure, above reproach, without guilt, and free from sin!

3. Be a Bible-centred believer… and encourage others to be the same

Paul’s next exhortation needs serious attention:  get to know your Bible well! Let the Scriptures be given both a public and private place of honour in your life. Few Christians take this seriously, but ‘Wordless’ believers are useless believers! The insight, information and inspiration of faithful Bible study, meditation and memorisation are huge. Many young believers today just ‘snack’ on Scripture through online devotionals, Christian poetry, and ‘sound bite’ sermons that sound more like ‘chicken soup for the Christian  soul’ than some deep, profound study or biblical revelation. Don’t be fooled; this will not be enough to sustain you through the treacherous days to come. Dig deeper in the Word!

4. Develop your spiritual gifts, and stay devoted and diligent!

What happened to spiritual gifts? Even in Pentecostal churches today, a consistent manifestation of authentic gifts is rare! But get ready... an army of gifted kids is going to shake up the town, just like the ‘Jesus People’ of the seventies! The youth of our day are not closed to Jesus, just to an irrelevant Church. Get ready to read about or see healings on the street or in pubs and clubs! Late-night prayer meetings, populated by young people and graced by extraordinary moments of divine visitation. Groups of young people rediscovering the power of prayer and fasting. These young people will be so consumed by their desire for God and His mission, that they will intimidate some regular churchgoers who will call them ‘fanatical’, ‘militant’ and ‘extreme’. But they will lead hundreds to Christ, and the biggest impact will be in the inner city estates.

This revival will not need your or my permission - just our faithful prayer, “O God, give us YOUTH ALIVE!”

Pastor Doug Williams is Senior Pastor of Emmanuel Christian Centre in Walthamstow, East London and serves on the National leadership Team of the Assemblies of God