Youth in the Church Family

A recent article in the local Conference communiqué, which is received via e-mail by all church leaders, sounded an alarm about the state of the Youth in our churches, about the lack of youth in our churches.

The North American Division Young Adult Ministries Advisory is preparing for the Youth Summit in Dallas next weekend, and a special concern has been raised at the Fall Annual Council of our church, showing that the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America is failing, along with many Protestant denominations, to retain a greater proportion of its young adults.

As the youth are leaving the church is “aging.” In society where median age is 37, the church, including un-baptised children in church families, is 58.

We don’t have to go far, or read many reports to see it right here, in our own home church – youth are going, or gone. They maybe around, but not committed to follow Christ, and are not interested in developing their spirituality. What do we do? How do we retain our youth? Where did we go wrong and missed value education in the past? Why are our young choosing the world, even if it hurts them, instead of the safety of Church haven? Are we a haven, a safe place for youth? Do we show them hope, peace, purpose in our lives? Do they have raw-models among church members for happy successful living? These and more questions are racing through my mind as we are entering into a year where our focus is on becoming an attractive church, where youth is cared for, families are in harmony, and community sees the Presence of God, His Kingdom in our midst.

The Conference Youth director, Cyril Millett, was interviewed this week about the future strategy and he admitted that the old approach of the “AY society… is antiquated… Is the AY society meeting their (youth) needs? Is it dealing with the issues that are truly of concern to them and their peers outside of church?”

At the same time there is a grass roots movement among our youth who do care about their walk with Christ. Even this weekend a group of 10+ College, University and high-school students are at Camp Frenda spiritual retreat, spending an entire weekend on Spiritual Formation.

We need to involve our youth from early age in all aspects of church life. And that’s not giving them a few verses to read Sabbath morning, but involving them in decision making, in renovation and repair work, in service, in every aspect of what we do as a church family. Why isn’t our youth with us at the work-bees, cleanups, outings, business meetings, prayer meetings? Some are. Yet we need to go beyond keeping the few that are already committed, and reach out to those that are lost.

Serving faithfully God’s Kingdom

I've been debating myself about the focus of this week’s article – February has two major emphases – the Black History month and the Family relationships month. Both causes are very significant and important to our congregation. I’ve looked over a few articles from the Adventist review regarding those topics, and asked myself “what do these topics have in common?” And the answer I got was the reason I write to you again about money!

What is the cause number one of family squabbles and the most significant contributor (37%) to failing marriages? à Money, the lack thereof…. What do you hear on TV preached most of the time in most of Afro-American churches? Money, the power, danger and responsibility that comes handling money…

Some parents are so frustrated about not having enough money that they are loosing interest in spending their time with kids, as they “can’t afford the quality entertainment” forgetting that their time alone is already the quality their kids need. Husbands are known to be reluctant coming home when money are low. People from minority backgrounds who were underprivileged and were not able to afford equal opportunities are striving hard to gain necessary means. Here, in church community, we witness it all. How do we deal with it? Do we offer assistance? Do we teach the right attitude toward money? I’ve mentioned in the sermon a month ago that 16 out of 38 of Jesus’ parables were about money. Five times more is said in the Gospels about money than about prayer. Comparisons may continue. The bottom line is that we place values where we see worth. Apostle Paul enlightened the young pastor, Timothy, on how people who did not have the right attitude about money “wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10).

This year one of our leadership efforts will be learning stewardship together, to be blessed, and to bless others. I will begin with a few biblical recommendations:

1. Give back to God first-fruits. Proverbs 3:9-10 reads: “Honour the Lord with your wealth, then your barns will be filled to overflowing.”

2. Maintain good records, good accounting. Know where your money is going. “Know the state of your flocks” (Proverbs 27:23)

3. Plan and budget your spending. Tell your money where you want it to go, rather than wondering where it went. “Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity” (Proverbs 21:5). Jesus warns us (Luke 14:28) “Don’t begin until you count the cost”.

4. Save for the future. “He who gathers money little by little makes it grow” (Proverbs 13:11).

5. Enjoy what you have. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

Dear Church Family! How are we managing God’s wealth among us? Are we aware that indebted are serving not God but money lenders? (Proverbs 22:7). Jesus says that God uses money as a test of our management and stewardship skills before entrusting us with spiritual things: "So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?" (Luke 16:11)

In this church we value our Families and our Cultural Diversity. Think of the blessing we would be to the community around us when our faithfulness to God would be manifested in healthy families, strong marriages, upward mobility of all ethnic groups, and missionary assistance to the needs of all ethnic groups around us. It all begins with consistent faithfulness…