I often hear pastors complaining about how so many youth leave the Church after they graduate from high school. Youth pastors especially seem to live in fear that a diploma in the hands of their once vibrant young disciples will turn them into hard and fast sceptics who can no longer find time for church.
That’s why it seemed so unusual when I heard of this one church that seems to be doing the opposite of everyone else. Instead of trying to hold onto their youth, they’re trying to get rid of them!
While other youth leaders are using any trick in the book to somehow get their kids to stick around, this church is saying, “Go ahead and leave if you want to!”
Is this some sort of reverse phycology trick? Why would any church do such a thing?
I spent the weekend with this church and I can tell you exactly why they are telling their youth to leave in one word:
MISSIONS!
Instead of trying to convince their youth to stay around with lots of fun and games, they are calling them to leave in pursuit of God’s calling and to carry the Good News of Jesus Christ to other lands and people. They are calling them to a difficult task, they are calling them to give up their comforts for the sake of the Gospel.
Could it be that many churches are approaching “youth ministry” backwards and instead of exhorting their young men and women to pick up their crosses and follow Jesus they are trying to bait them back to church by promising entertainment?
I’ll let you be the judge!
What I can tell you is that while we didn’t play any games as this conference there was a lot of joy! Joy that came from our one unifying passion and purpose to see Jesus glorified.
I had the privilege of speaking several times. One of my main topics was on how to determine God’s call in your life. You can watch it in Russian here. My text was Isaiah chapter 6 and I emphasized the difficult nature of God’s call in Isaiah’s life.
I warned them that success in ministry looks far different from success in the world’s eyes. It may mean extreme difficulties in every realm of life, yet it is worth it all in the end!
Towards the end of the conference together with all the pastors we prayed for God to raise up new missionaries from Ukraine that can take the hope of Jesus Christ to other lands and people.
The youth also prayed for God’s blessing on those who came and preached the Word and for God to move in their lives.
I hope you’ll also join is in this prayer! I’m convinced that the Ukrainian Church can become a mighty missions sending Church.
- Pray for God’s calling in the lives of those who participated in this conference, several youth talked to me personally about God’s call to missions in their life!
- Pray that what this church is doing would be multiplied all over Ukraine in other churches.
- Pray for me as I have opportunity to minister in other churches and exhort and encourage them towards Biblical missions.
floyd
October 12, 2016That’s the fruit of the Spirit, brother. Keep running the good race!
Bryan Entzminger
October 15, 2016Thanks for sharing, Caleb. I love how you take what looks like a problem from the outside and turn it on its head!
TCAvey
October 18, 2016That’s great! I wish more churches would take this approach. I know my own youth group was like this. I never stopped to wonder what the youth pastor thought. I assumed he was happy the majority of us went out and became missionaries, preachers, teachers, servants of God even though it wasn’t at the church we grew up in.
my job as a parent is to prepare my kids to leave home. Seems to me a pastors job is to prepare people to do the Great Commission- not sit in a pew.
Caleb
October 18, 2016Sounds like you had a bit of an unusual youth group growing up, that’s awesome!
TCAvey
October 19, 2016We were very unique. Every summer we went to various places throughout the US and taught VBS in the mornings and did revivals at night using both traditional praise/worship and preaching as well as drama. Almost all aspects were lead by us youth. The adults gave of themselves so we could learn to one day lead.
I hadn’t realized how special that was till I had kids of my own and my husband and I struggled to find a church similar to the one I grew up in.
Brandon Duncan
December 12, 2016Appreciate and respect your approach and points of view, many will be blessed with this blog. I want to share though that Congregations need to be more accepting, OPEN, Loving and willing to open their doors inviting EVERYONE into the house of God.
The WORD teaches that we are to go out and compel them into the house of God, and that is where I am called. The things is this, most houses of God are not so inviting to the teenagers who are impacted, associated with or in gangs, criminal lifestyles and those who have broken families.
I boldly stepped out into the public eye in 2009 as establishing Fierce Youth Outreach
and in a 25 mile range there is over 167 churches. Of those 167, only 1 church showed any interest to open their doors and welcome into their church anyone who is reached and preach to on the streets who want to get to know CHRIST.
Churches fear losing their youth group or not having enough youth, but yet they FEAR (this is a quote from a Pastor) yes, a supposed man of God;
We don’t want them bad seeds to influence our good kids.
That is not Biblical, and JESUS came for the sinner, not the righteous and yet no one hardly wants to give focus to the kids falling through the cracks.
In America there is estimated 1 million kids in gangs, but every child is At Risk because of TV and music promotes gang and criminal lifestyles. Add drugs, alcohol, bullying, abuse, kids are At Risk and it is our duty as CHRISTIANS to serve every child.
Thank you for your blog though truly I pray many Youth Ministers and Congregations are blessed and make positive change.
I also pray that more churches will stand on the WORD of GOD and not allow fear to stop them from ministering and LOVING the people who need it most, those in the dark. God redeems, cleanses and CHANGES, look at Paul, and so many others in the Bible.
I am a servant of CHRIST, blessed today with Pastoral credentials and yet my testimony is one that scares most.
Brandon Duncan: Finding Freedom in Prison – CBN.com – YouTube
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Jan 13, 2012 – Uploaded by The Christian Broadcasting Network
An infatuation with gangster mob movies as a child sent Brandon down a path of criminal behavior .
God bless all who read this and to the Suko family
in JESUS service
your brother in Christ
Brandon Duncan