When it comes to youth ministry, time is not on your side. To be clear, time does bring experience, which is hugely important. After having just completed my 20th year in youth ministry, I have learned a lot in that time. However, with most of this mission field, I have only seven years, at best, to minister to these young people. That alone leaves me and my leadership team with a unique sense of urgency to our ministry.
However, there is another sense of urgency for students that affects the body of Christ as a whole, but especially the parents of these students. Pick just about any area of teen life and you will find a growing darkness gaining more and more ground.
Take schools. Are these typically beacons of hopefulness? Not hardly. Decades of teaching that we are cosmic accidents whose morality is whatever the wind brings that day has taken its toll. Confusion and purposelessness abound. Not to mention that we are selling a rat-race life to students that most of us don't really believe in ourselves - you have to get good grades so that you get into a good college, so that you can get a good job, so that you can list that on a resume for your next job (repeat as needed), so that eventually, you can retire, so that hopefully you are financially independent enough to do something you actually enjoy. Who could be depressed?
Ok, but for young people, they have their whole life in front of them. True, but look at what life has offered them over the past 1/6th to 1/9th of their lives. A global pandemic gorging on fear; a divisive, country-wide vitriol that makes even the most civic minded of us sick to our stomach; a government, a media, and a business world where the ends always justify the means; an economic roller-coaster ride that doesn't seem to have an exit station. The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades 😎.
But at least teens have their friends, right? Well, yeah, but social interaction has "evolved" to require a small, bright screen. Social media, which can be more addictive than narcotics, has created psuedo-friendships that typically take more than they give. Likes, streaks, and followers fuel society more than relational nourishment. How much emotional support can you get from an emoji anyhow 🤗?
Teens should have their families to fill these gaps. But we all know how measurable the breakdown of the family is. Even with a strong Christian foundation and a solid parental marriage, every one of us parents knows we are busier than we'd like to be to provide the added support. We often aren't even taking care of our own needs well enough.
The Church can be a final bulwark against this onslaught. It can and often is, but the statistics of young adults giving up on the Church are staggering (that does include churches that aren't preaching the Word so not, in those cases, eh 🤷♂️). The Church won't be important to teens without concrete intentionality.
Kids will be the first to tell you how much harder they have it than their parents. And even though this thought is foolish, ignorant narcissism, it actually is supported by the facts. However, if it's good for the goose, then it's good for the gander. We, parents, then have a harder job mothering and fathering than previous generations. And while that brings little comfort, it hopefully brings a sense of urgency. Our kids need Jesus. Well, first we need Jesus. Then, we need to need our kids to need Jesus. And, by God's grace, with much prayer and hard work, our kids will need Jesus.
"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6 ESV
So, if you are a parent, you have a tough but amazingly important job ahead of you. And if you aren't a parent, you know people who are that would appreciate your encouragement and patience. There is a sense of urgency as the formative years evaporate faster than our ability to perceive it. But, God knows the best investment strategies. He said to invest the Word of God in our young people and to do it as often as possible.
"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise."
Deuteronomy 6:7 ESV
Redeem the mundane. Reap eternal consequences from temporal moments. It is the desire of the Arrow Student Ministry Leadership team to partner with parents to train and teach these students.
"Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth."
Psalm 127:4 ESV
We want to help parents to shape these arrows so they fly a straight and narrow path when you launch them into the world.
So, to leave you with a final sense of urgency and my call to action, every student associated with Harvest Bible Chapel needs to be at the Fall Retreat this November 5-7th. They will hear the gospel preached boldly and urgently. They will have the opportunity to be impacted eternally. They will be shown in word and deed how the student small group (Arrow) can measurably affect their walk with Christ (including beginning that walk). I've seen this happen over and over for the students who go on this retreat. There is no event we do at Arrow that is more important than this weekend.
If you are a student - your job is to come to this retreat. To come prepared to listen and be changed. Register here.
If you are a parent, relative, or friend of a student - your job is to get that student to come to this retreat. Beg, bride, or demand. Take away the excuses. Find a way to get them there, and you will not be disappointed. We cannot have the same impact on the students who don't go. Register here.
If you are either of these or anyone else - your job is to pray that God would accomplish His purposes through the preaching of His Word. That barriers to attending would be demolished. And that lives would be changed.
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
Romans 1:16 ESV
I appeal to this church with a sense of urgency. Because who knows if Jesus will return before next year's retreat? I'm certainly praying that He does.
Dan Thompson
-Arrow Youth Ministry Leader
arrow@harvestpittsburghnorth.org