ONE Day… Mobilising Young People
in the Fight
excerpt
by Xander Coleman
'…that our
young people would be filled with the Spirit and recognised as
contributors in the fight.'
At its inception, The Salvation Army was inherently a youth
movement—an army of young people. Primitive Salvationists
recruited young people who were fresh and energetic to take
the Army across the world. It was seen as commonplace for
cadets to be commissioned at 16 years of age, or commissioners
to be as young as 23.
Commissioner George Scott Railton lead a group of seven young
women to invade the United States of America—only one of whom
was over 20-years-old! The Army was not afraid of putting
young people in leadership positions because it had nothing to
lose and everything to gain for the sake of the kingdom of
God.
Things have changed a lot since then. Young people have
nowhere near as much prominence in Army ministry. True, they
still have entire departments dedicated to them at territorial
and divisional levels. But it seems that throughout the past
century youth ministry has come to mean ministry to youth
rather than ministry by youth.
You see dry bones? In Australia, our generation of young
people are plagued with influences such as binge drinking,
drug abuse, internet pornography, sexual promiscuity, teenage
pregnancy, broken families, abused children, divorced parents,
depression, suicide. If ever there's been a generation that
needs good news, it's this generation.
We would be naive to assume that these issues exist
exclusively outside our ranks.
And yet, out of this broken generation, God seems to be
raising up a remnant of the faithful—and not just faithful
because they show up every Sunday. Faithful in surrendering
their lives to him; faithful in praying for his kingdom to
come on this earth; faithful in trusting in his promise;
faithful in holiness, in evangelism, in passion, in
commitment, in covenant, in truth—an army of young people who
are
seeking after him.
God is pouring out his spirit on young men and young women who
will receive it, who will surrender their lives for his
kingdom. That old prophecy is stirring, echoing, growing
louder, 'your sons and daughters will prophesy'. Can you hear
it?
The prophets are stirring, have you heard them? Check out The
Vision by Pete Greig—part poem, part prophecy, part distant
hope, part realised dream: www.24-7prayer.com/cm/resources/28.
The first fruits are emerging—have you seen them? Teenagers
testifying to freedom from the power of sin; teenagers from
this territory leading corps outposts in foreign lands; teens
moving to rough neighbourhoods so they can share God's love
with the residents; teenagers writing books on holiness for
other teenagers.
Young people have so much to offer! As a good friend of mine
says, there is no junior version of the Holy Spirit. If a
young person is gifted in preaching, let her preach. If a
pre-teen is gifted in leading worship, let him lead worship.
If there are gifted evangelists, prophets, healers, givers,
leaders, pastors, teachers — let them do it! May our young
people be holy, filled with the spirit of God, anointed for
ministry and mobilised. An army of young people! 'And this
vision will be. It will come to pass; it will come easily; it
will come soon. How do I know? Because this is the longing of
creation itself, the groaning of the Spirit, the very dream of
God. My tomorrow is His today. My distant hope is His 3D. And
my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous,
resounding, bone-shaking great "Amen!" from countless angels,
from heroes of the faith, from Christ himself. And He is the
original dreamer, the ultimate winner. Guaranteed.' – Pete
Greig, The Vision.
Brainstorm
How do we make it happen? How can we mobilise our young
people?
What sort of role models are we for our young people? Are we
modelling holiness, mission-focus and sensitivity to the
spirit?
Research shows that to develop, all children need someone
unconditionally committed to them. Spiritually, how can you
commit to a young person's development?
Do you think we expect too much of our young people? Too
little? Why?
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