Is there anything more important than engaging our young adults in the work of the church? Or putting in their hand’s opportunities for leadership? Or challenging them to be on the front lines of ministry and evangelism? In this short article I want to talk about two important reasons we need to engage our young adults like never before.
First, study after study has shown when a young adult signs on for a significant ministry opportunity within our church they are much more likely to stay attached and involved with the church through their life. Young adults who serve as student missionaries, summer camp staff and literature evangelists have a special bonding to the church and its mission and often go on to become leaders in our movement.
As a former youth director, I have first-hand knowledge of this phenomenon. I am amazed at how many young people I worked with at camp or our conference’s megabook program have gone on to become teachers and pastors, local church elders, deacons and deaconesses, and pathfinder and Sabbath School leaders. I believe once someone at an earlier stage in life gets a taste of ministering to others and leading them to Christ, they never want to stop doing that.
So, my encouragement is to seek out the young adults in your church and help them get involved in a significant way in ministry. Think about ways you can support them in their ministry journey whether it be financial or through encouragement. What you will be doing is helping prepare the next generation of church leaders.
Secondly, we need to turn over the reins of many leadership positions to young adults right now. We forget this church was carved out in prayer by a group of young adults who had the vision, creativity, energy and will to see this movement grow up to be a world-wide church. Too often we think if they are a young adult they cannot be trusted, but this is simply not true. We need to be stretched and challenged by the new ideas they bring, along with new avenues they create to spread the gospel.
I have a friend whose son joined the Air Force, and before two years were up, he was put in charge of the maintenance and readiness of a C-5 transport plane. In case you do not know what that is, it is the largest aircraft the Air Force has and is capable of transporting two large tanks at a time to be deployed anywhere around the world as needed. The responsibility is staggering! He is the one to make sure it is safe for the crew and that the plane will be able to perform the actions required to fulfill their mission. In our local church, however, one might not even be considered to be a junior deacon at that age. If the military sees how young adults can perform extremely crucial and technical functions at an early age, perhaps we as a church should take note of that as well.
This isn’t about having only young adults in leadership or putting everyone over 50 out to pasture. It is about having all generations working together for our mission to move forward and thrive. We need each other and we need to have all generations represented in leadership.
So, my hope and prayer is that the next time you have nominating committee or the church board is considering a leader for some aspect of ministry within the church, you will remember the young adults among you. They are loaded with talent and anxious to be a part of this amazing movement God has called us to.
