Why Youth Ministry?

In my prayer time this morning, I was reminded again of why I believe it is VITAL that we focus on building and growing our ministry to students here at Everett Springs.

We must reach our young people with the Gospel and disciple them in the truth of God's Word or our churches will be in trouble in the coming years. All we have to do is to look to Europe to validate this belief.

Here is what Operation World has on their website:

The younger generation represents a new challenge; many have grown up in a context devoid of Christian witness or explicitly Christian values. Such beliefs are not seen as relevant or important for most people under age 25. Spirituality is in vogue, but this tends to incorporate New Age, esoterism, eastern religions or the occult and rarely translates into participation in church life. Yet the door remains open to a culturally and generationally relevant expression of the gospel; Christian movements that resonate with young people have emerged in the last decade and resulted in thousands of groups of believers meeting together, but much remains to be done.

If we do not evangelize our students and ground them in the eternal truths of God's Word we will be where Europe is now and we will be there much sooner than we would imagine.

How many hours are our students in school? How many hours are they involved in sports or extra curricular activities? How many hours are they involved in church? How can we influence and impact students with only an hour or two of spiritual input a week? We can't!

That is why HOME and CHURCH must work together. Ideally the truths taught and modeled at home are also reinforced in Church. And what they hear and see in Church is reinforced in the home.

Ministry to our young people is vital!

This is why we encourage students to be at Bible Study, on Sunday at 10:00. This is why it is important for them to sit under the preaching ministry of the Word, on Sunday at 11:00. Yes, this is also why we have placed our focus on ministering to students, on Sunday night at 6:00.

We cannot afford to miss this prime opportunity to evangelize and disciple young people. Their eternal souls are at stake. The future of the church is in the balance. The endangered generation is not yet to be born, they sit in our schools right now.

So, what will you do?

Can you pray for our youth?
Can you invite young people to attend Bible Study and Worship with you?
Can you pray for, support, and do your part to see that students attend our Sunday night gathering at 6?
Can you pray for God's provision for leaders and workers for our student ministry?

Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes you can do all the above and together we can work to make a difference for the students we serve.

Yours for our Youth,
Pastor Mike