The Future of the Church
by David McCullers
Are the youth in our church truly the future of the church? You may have heard before that the youth are the future of the church. I know that I’ve even thought that before. But I don’t think that is actually true. If you were to ask believers when they became Christians, most would say that they came to faith before the age of 20. If this is true, then why do most churches not spend the time and resources to make sure they have an effective youth ministry? The reality is that youth are not the future of the church. They are the church. It’s only when we see that youth are just as important to the Mission of God that we will see a positive youth ministry in our churches.
What does a positive youth ministry look like? Here are a few things I have observed over my years of being part of various ministries (youth and college).
1. They aren’t boring.
The youth are living in a time when everything is at their fingertips. They can do practically anything from the palm of their hands. It is super important for a youth ministry to be interesting and attractive to the students. Ultimately, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is what changes hearts and lives, but if the weekly youth event is not attractive to non-believing youth, then they will not want to return. It doesn’t have to be complicated to not be boring, it just takes time, thought, and intentionality.
2. They teach Jesus and a changed heart that leads to a changed life, not just moralism.
Like I said in the previous point, the Gospel is what changes lives. We cannot compromise the message of the Gospel for the sake of the excitement of a youth group. Many youth (and parents) don’t see the importance of coming to youth events because they think being a “good person” is enough. I thank the Lord that our leaders and staff at New City Macon fully believe that the Gospel is necessary to real life transformation. The most important thing we have to remember is to make everything we do age-appropriate. If it is too “dumbed down,” the youth will get bored. If it is too advanced, the youth will get frustrated. Jesus didn’t explain things to children the same way He explained them to adults. We don’t need to do that either.
3. They include young people throughout the church.
This is something that I think New City Macon does so well. The students are part of the church. They shouldn’t be pushed to the side and forgotten. I am so proud of our youth because they are involved in other ministry areas in the church. We have youth serving on both the Connect (hospitality) team and in New City Kids. When we have visitors at our church, they see youth serving the church. That is so important.
Rooted Celebration
This past weekend, we practiced what it means to have a positive youth ministry. Our Rooted Weekend was amazing, and our youth had so much fun. We had fun, worshipped, heard Gospel-filled messages, and discussed those messages. It was not a boring weekend. We made it attractive to the youth and the friends they brought. The youth had fun, and they were not silent about that fact. Saturday night we had a Glow Party where the youth danced under black lights, strobe lights, and balloons. They had a blast, and the leaders did too. We also taught the students about Jesus and how he transforms our hearts and lives. We talked about being Rooted in the Gospel through Peace, Love, and Truth, instead of being Rooted in the world through Fear, Hate, and Lies. Finally, as I said before, the youth are involved in the life of the church on a regular basis. I am so proud of our youth at New City Macon.
The Future of Our Ministry
I am looking forward to the future of New City Youth. I expect we will grow during the next year, especially as we transition to the new building. Right now, we consistently have 2-4 discussion groups on a weekly basis broken up by age and gender. I want to see us have enough youth to have one group per grade and gender. That would mean we would have 12 discussion groups each week. I fully trust that the Lord will do this. In order for this to happen, we need more leaders. We especially need more male leaders. If you would like to partner with us in this vision, please email me. Also, if you have a child in 6th-12th grade, please encourage them to come to youth. We would love to have them!