“We must make a choice to engage our young people in the harvest field. We have got to capture their attention, fire their imagination, redirect their enthusiasm and deepen their foundations so that world missions might burn in their hearts.”

Rev Edmund Chan, Leadership Mentor of Covenant Evangelical Free Church, had this to say to some 260 youth pastors and leaders at a closed-door session at Cornerstone Community Church on October 25.

The event was held by FOPx, which presented a 110-page research study that identified eight key challenges faced by our young people today and detailed more than 40 suggestions on how to tackle them.

Here is an excerpt of Rev Edmund’s exhortation to the leaders of the next generation.

Church in crisis

We are at a point in church history, on the global church front, where we have a crisis. And the greater crisis is that we cannot see the impending crisis.

According to the Pew report, there are about seven million churches in the world today. Of the seven million, four million are stagnant, two million are dying and only one million are growing churches. And even among the one million churches, not all churches are growing healthily.

So we have a crisis where out of seven million churches, six million are already stagnant or dying.

There is a podcast by Jim Davis and he calls it “The Great Dechurching”. In his podcast, there are two groups of people who are identified: The “nones” and the “dones”.

The “nones” are people who have no connection to Christianity; the “dones” are those who had a relationship with Christianity but they are done with it, they are no longer in church.

A study done in America found that over the last 25 to 30 years, about 40 million Americans have been dechurched.

Now this overshadows two great awakenings: John Edward’s awakening as well as the Billy Graham’s evangelistic revivals. Even when these awakenings were added together, they could not come up to 40 million.

The majority of those 40 million who left church and were dechurched were younger people.

We have a crisis, and we must be able to see this crisis, ask the right questions, stick to the fundamentals and reclaim lost realms.

Raising up the next generation

So I affirm the need for discipling the next generation, and the need for restoring family and family health, because healthy families mean healthy churches. We do not just park the young people on the door steps of the church and say: “You disciple them.”

We must also go back to Old Testament paradigms and the instructions which were given to parents – particularly to the fathers – to disciple their children. Fathering and Christian homes must be put in place.

Additionally, the role of the Church is to equip the saints for the purpose of work in this ministry – not just for healthy ministry, but to change our world, because God is using the young people as never before, as a revival force to change our world.

We are not here to babysit the young people or to entertain them. We are here to help them see the harvest, so that they, too, can be harvesters in the name of Jesus who will rock and change the world for Jesus Christ.

What I deeply appreciate today is the research done. I deeply appreciate the comprehensiveness of the research.

I read all 100 pages of the report, got the edited version, and read all 110 pages. And I sit here today listening to all the presentations, impressed not just by the intelligence and comprehensiveness of the research but also by how articulate you guys are.

What I see here today is a collaboration, a team, the future where God is uniting us to collaborate together. And the amazing thing is there is no weakest link here. Everyone is standing strong, shoulder to shoulder, the exact picture of the unity we need.

I pray that, as pastors and leaders bring this research to the board, together as a church we might see the importance of discipling the next generation for the harvest field, for the nations, to get ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, because God is placing His agenda and His redemptive purpose on the minds and shoulders of the next generation.

Curate capital, cultivate capacity

I humbly advocate 10 key considerations for all youth ministries:

1. Relevance. Ensure your ministry remains relevant to today’s youth by addressing their unique challenges and interests.
2. Discipleship. Focus on fostering spiritual roles in discipleship and a deepening relationship with God.
3. Mentorship. Encourage strong mentorship relationships between youths and adults within the church community.
4. Safety and inclusivity. Create a safe and inclusive environment where all youth feel welcome and valued.
5. Technology. Embrace technology to connect and engage with young people, through online platforms and social media.
6. Community outreach. In both youth community services and outreach programmes, instil a sense of social responsibility.
7. Worship and teaching. Offer engaging worship experiences and relevant biblically sound teaching.
8. Relationship building. Prioritise building strong, unique relationships with youths to help them navigate the complexities of life.
9. Parental involvement. Foster open communication with parents to keep them informed and engaged with their children’s spiritual development.
10. Adaptability. Be flexible and adaptable to the evolving needs and interests of today’s youth.

These are the 10 key considerations – and these are actually all from ChatGPT! ChatGPT told me in seconds what I needed, and it knows.

Now, how do we move on from here?

Let me point you to a more worthy direction. Say these words with me: Curate capital, cultivate capacity.

Capital comes in two forms: Knowledge and skill.

For senior pastors, youth pastors or youth leaders, you must have this knowledge and skill. This is our capital.

The research shared with us today is one example of knowledge capital. The 10 considerations that ChatGPT told us is also considered capital.

But let me tell you that knowledge and skill is not enough.

It is easy enough to get knowledge. But what is needed is the pathway to get wisdom by which you can cultivate capacity. Without capacity, nothing happens. We only have knowledge.

So what is capacity?

It is the pathway to wisdom where we develop strategic, emotional, relational, social capacity and connectedness – with God, within ourselves and with one another.

If we have not developed this capacity of connectedness with God, with ourselves and with one another, we will not be able to develop the emotional and relational capacity, social capital and – the most important thing – the spiritual capacity, to make a difference.

How then do you develop capacity? How do you cultivate it?

Knowledge is easy to cultivate. It is right there, in a technological world.

But you need to curate knowledge, just like the amazing research done. Indeed, knowledge is everywhere, and you have done an amazing job of curating it and then bringing it to focus today.

What I humbly advocate now is that we focus less on curating knowledge and more on cultivating capacity.

Making the right choices

I humbly want to tell you, in my response, that you have just one thing to do: Cultivate capacity.

Each of you has growth capacity. It is not what we want or do not want. It is the choices we make.

It is as simple as that. Everything else in leadership development, movement and traction revolves around one thing alone: The choices leaders make.

Today, we must make the right choices.

I close by pointing you in this direction: We have to make a choice to grow in Christ Jesus and enthrone Him. He is our capacity, He is the centre of gravity.

Secondly, we must make a choice for community, to see more collaborations like this.

Thirdly, we must make a choice to engage our young people in the harvest field. We have got to capture their attention, fire their imagination, redirect their enthusiasm and deepen their foundations so that world missions, the redemptive mission of Jesus Christ for the nations, might burn in their hearts.

If we do not have that love for Jesus and His cause for the world, we are not engaging our young people. We are merely following and entertaining them.

But when we fire up their hearts with a love for Jesus and pour that love onto the nations, to strongly believe that the world needs to be won by Jesus Christ by their generation, it changes their world for Jesus.

RELATED STORIES:

8 key issues faced by church leaders of our youth today: FOPx research project

5 ways churches can boost the impact of your youth ministry: FOPx research study

If your inner script is flawed, your leadership will be flawed: Rev Edmund Chan on the first day of IDMC 2020 online conference