The pandemic has revealed the shortcoming of the youth ministries of many churches.
Youth Ministries
In an episode of Standing Together, Tim Alford, national director of Limitless, reveals to us the flaw of the youth ministry that was exposed during the pandemic. When the pandemic broke out last year, Tim thought that it was the youth who would easily make it through the tough times.
It is because they were the most “digital” generation. He thought that as the world shifted turned online, young people would easily adjust and adapt to it. But he was wrong.
“When we went in the first lockdown back in March 2020, at that stage, I’ve had somewhat presumptuously assumed that those of us in youth ministry would be fine. You know young people live online, these guys, they’re digital natives, this is the WIFI in your pocket generation… But actually, as it happened, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Because what we saw was a gradual disengagement of young people from our online contacting content,” he shared.
Disciples
The shortcoming of the youth ministries that the pandemic revealed is that they weren’t able to create disciples. Youth ministries did a great job at gathering people and leading them into the Lord. However, they didn’t teach them how to become disciples.
“Young people need spiritual parents more than spiritual programs… We’ve done a really great job of gathering young people and when they’re with us we love them and they feel valued and they feel part of a community and we’ve done that pretty well. But I think actually, what was exposed is that what our models of youth ministry haven’t done well is to make disciples.”
Young people need something more than just good programs, presentations, community, and love. They need spiritual parents that would teach them how to live as disciples of Christ.
“If we had disciples, whether a robust, independent, interdependent, relationship with Jesus, we wouldn’t be worried. Because we’d be confident that they knew how to open up their Bibles and spend time in Scripture on their own. We’d be confident that they knew how to feed themselves and grow into a relationship with God. We’d be confident about their connection to the Body of Christ.”
Read also: In These Trying Times, God Is Revealing His Marvelous Love
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Reference: GOD TV