Last month, after several long flights, I landed in an undisclosed country and spent time training youth leaders, pastors, and church planters there. A few observations…
After a day of equipping and training next-generation leaders, I had the honor of preaching in a church started by one of the indigenous church planters attending our Jesus-Focused Youth Ministry Forum. Several years ago, God gave this man a vision to reach an unreached people group in a specific slum inside his city. On this particular night, to reach his church, I traveled by car until the road made it impossible to proceed any further. As our team approached the church on foot, the streets filled with the singing from the believers gathered inside. While the moment was captivating, it was not surprising. Regardless of the church we visited during our time in this country, we became accustomed to everyone singing at the top of their lungs….everyone praying passionately for the lost..., and everyone giving what they could to support the work of God through their local community of faith. Every believer…ALL IN…for the glory of God!
Another observation…each church we attended was filled with the majority of people being under 30 years of age. While Christianity has deep roots in this country, demographically the Church is getting younger, as the median age of this country’s population also grows younger by the day. While the growing number of young people is valid for much of the world, we have a skewed perspective as the USA continues to “gray.” The global challenge remains: 2.3 billion young people between the ages of 9-29 who don’t know Jesus. And, Generation Alpha (those born between 2010-2015) comprises the largest generation our world has ever seen!
Youthfulness was certainly on display that night, as two girls on microphones led the worship along with a lone percussionist. And even though this particular church is the ONLY Christian church in their community, the enthusiasm and testimony of the believers was palpable. These believers were not intimidated or fearful of the gospel they are called to share.
As the night drew to a close, the pastor introduced me to a lady he said had been demon-possessed when he first met her. The demons had kept her from sleeping for many years, but that wasn’t the end of her story! She was delivered…saved. The power of God radically changed her life! Late that evening as I rode out of the slum on the back of a motorcycle (a bit unexpected!), my heart was full. What a joy to worship in that church which began with a vision fueled by compassion…and is now reaching into their community filled with new believers who have radically changed lives and new eternal destinies.
A few days earlier, I spoke with another lady who attended a training session we previously hosted in a different part of that country. She asked for prayer, as she said she had become emotionally and spiritually exhausted from counseling the kids at her daughter’s school. She stated she didn’t work for the school, but her counseling occurs as her daughter (who has given her heart to Jesus) brings her broken friends and classmates to their home almost daily. The mother said she regularly meets with kids who have tried to take their own lives, who are addicted to drugs and pornography, and who have attempted to kill others with knives. I asked this lady about her daughter’s age, and she said she was nine. A nine-year-old…with a heart of compassion…bringing her nine- and ten-year-old classmates to her mom. Her compassion is helping her friends find hope, healing, safety, and salvation.
One final observation. At one of our training events in that country, I met a group of leaders who had sold crops to have the money necessary to travel to the training. It took them 40 hours to get to our three-day event. These leaders had also endured significant Christian persecution over the last year, with houses and churches burned to the ground. Yet, as we talked, they shared stories of reaching the young people in their towns with the gospel, and they asked us to intercede with them that there would be even more workers who go into the ripe fields of harvest where they live.
The church planter…
The counseling mom…
The persecuted leaders…
Their stories epitomized a passage we highlighted in our training that week…
