Effective youth ministry revolves around the development of discipling relationship with young people. This involves the use of a commitment-level ministry philosophy where different ministries are aimed at each level of commitment: youth who are outside the group (pool of humanity); youth who visit the group (come-level); youth who hear the gospel (grow-level); youth who are followed up (disciple level); youth who are involved in ministry (develop level) and youth who are in ministry positions (multiply level).
Targeting involves altering the form of events or ministries to appeal to the needs and tastes of a particular age or cultural group, without excluding those of other age or cultural groups. The commitment level model of ministry involves targeting - where the form of youth events or ministries are altered to appeal to the needs of a particular commitment level, ie. the come or the grow level.
1. The Evangelism Process
Before considering a process for evangelism it is important to clarify the understanding of evangelism. The purpose of evangelism is to present the life-changing message of Christ in a culturally relevant manner to lost youth. While evangelism involves bringing life change, it also involves producing life-changers, as youth move from nonbeliever to convert to disciple to worker to leader. Just as youth ministry is not an event but a process built on relationships, so evangelism is a relationship-based process. The evangelism process involves the following steps:
A. Make Contact with Youth
Evangelism begins as significant contact is made with a young person. This may involve a face-to-face encounter (probably the best form of evangelism) or through other mediums such as tracts, radio programming, email, etc. A Christian should connect with an unchurched person in such a way that the unchurched person feels a significant connection has been made.
B. Develop Relationships with Youth
Once initial contact is made, a relationship must be established with the person. Christianity has a strong relational dimension and is best communicated life-to-life, rather than just mouth-to-ear. This stage involves getting to know the young person by finding out about their lives, ie. school, family, home, religious experiences, etc.
C. Share Salvation with Youth
Once a relationship has been developed, the evangelist has earned the right to begin to speak about eternal realities with the person. They could probe the person for their experiences of God; use diagnostic questions or launch straight into a presentation of the message of salvation. They should find an angle through which to share the message with the young person, ie. through sport if the person is sporty, or through relationship if the person is concerned about relational issues. This stage includes calling the young person to make a decision to embrace or reject Christ. The evangelist leads the person in a prayer of confession of repentance and an acceptance of salvation through faith in Christ.
D. Do Follow-up with Youth
“It is far easier to reach teenagers than to keep them, it’s much easier to win converts than to do the thing Jesus asked us to do: to make disciples” (John Buckeridge, Nurturing Young Disciples, Page xi; see also Reaching and Keeping Teenagers by Peter Brierley and Finding Them, Keeping Them by Gary McIntosh and Glen Martin). The new convert must be followed up as soon as possible, to be sure they understand what has happened to them and learn from Scripture how they can be sure of their salvation. They need guidelines on developing their relationship with Christ, including reading Scripture, prayer, Christian living, church involvement and evangelism.
2. The Evangelism Strategy
Youth leaders can view commitment level evangelism in two ways:
A. Move Youth Through Commitment Levels
This method involves making contact with unchurched youth away from the youth group; developing a relationship with them that will make them willing to attend a fun event at the youth group; getting them to come to a gospel orientated event where they are invited to respond to Christ and then following them up to establish them in the faith. This process involves: making contact, developing a relationship, sharing the gospel and establishing them, ie. moving youth through the ministry funnel.
B. Evangelise Youth at Each Commitment Level
This method recognises that people may come to know Christ at any level. For example, a pool of humanity event includes making contact, building a relationship, sharing the gospel and then inviting the converted person into a group for follow-up. The same would happen at a come-level event where a first time visitor is led to the Lord by one of the young people or a leader during the evening. They are not told to wait until a later event before they make a commitment. The better approach is to move youth through the funnel, but the youth leader should always be prepared for situations where God has been working in the life of a young person, and they are ready to respond to His offer of salvation. The Windsor youth group has a four-week evangelistic programming strategy: (1) Mega Rave - an event like ice-skating or go-karting where the aim is to make contact and build relationships with newcomers. (2) Gospel Rave - an event like a travelling supper where during the fun event an evangelist shares the gospel. (3) Christian Rave - a programme with a fun event that includes a message that builds on the previous weeks’ gospel presentation. (4) Issue Rave - a relevant issue is dealt with evangelistically.
3. The Evangelism Levels
In order to evangelise young people, leaders must be aware of the impact of commitment levels on the evangelism process. It would be helpful to take each level and apply the evangelism strategy suggested above, ie. making contact, building relationships, sharing the gospel and following-up. Obviously a change will occur somewhere along the commitment levels, as conversion occurs around the grow commitment level. So, from the disciple level the strategy would change as the focus moves from evangelising these youth to involving them in the ministry of evangelism.
4. Humanity Level Evangelism
Humanity level youth are unchurched youth who are probably postmodern in their thinking. A key feature of their thinking is relativism. While they don’t believe in absolute truth, they often dismiss Christianity because it is not true. An unchurched youth: (1) has rejected youth group, but not necessarily God; (2) is morally adrift, but secretly wants an anchor; (3) resists rules but responds to reasons; (4) doesn’t understand Christianity, but is ignorant of what they believe; (5) doesn’t just ask, “Is Christianity true?” but “Does it work?”; (6) wants to experience something, not just know it; (7) wants to be somebody’s friend, not their project; (8) isn’t much of a joiner, but is hungry for a cause to connect with; (9) is tolerant of different faiths, but thinks Christians are narrow-minded; and (10) may try youth group if invited by a friend, but this may do more harm than good (adapted from Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, by Lee Strobel, Page 44-81).
A. Make Contact with Humanity Level Youth
Humanity youth do not hang out at Christian youth groups, nor are they found in church on a Sunday morning. If youth groups are going to reach them, they will have to go where they are. Sharlene Swartz, a Scripture Union worker, suggests that leaders develop the art of creative hanging: “Train a group of volunteers in significant conversation and constructive hanging around. Send them to where youth already are: at sports events, schools, skateboard ramps, shopping centres. Evangelism doesn’t become a one off hit-and-run ministry because leaders are committed to significantly hanging out at these venues, where they become known and trusted. Then they are able to share the gospel after having won the right to speak. In order to get to know unchurched youth, leaders must: (1) spend time asking God for strength and guidance; (2) research the local area to find out where youth congregate; (3) visit the places where youth congregate and hang around to discover all they can about the youth; (4) visit these places over a period of time and look for God’s leading regarding whom to relate to; and (5) decide on which group of young people God is leading them to (Pete Ward, Youth Culture and the Gospel). Two strategies for evangelism have been highlighted: (1) Community based - everyone within a certain radius of the church is considered the target. Here the concern is to reach the whole community with the gospel. (2) Niche market - the group identifies a certain subculture group within the community as their focus. While niche market evangelism may be appropriate in an area where many groups are working with youth, such an approach may mean that they will not reach many youth with the gospel. Even where niche market evangelism is used, the group should be inclusive and reach out to those who attend the group or those that the members come into contact with.
B. Develop Relationships with Humanity Level Youth
Once initial contact has been made with an unchurched person, a relationship must be developed. As leaders hang out with youth, or engage in activities with them, they should begin to question youth and listen to them. They should ask questions on topics that are relevant to the persons’ life; challenge their beliefs and find natural ways to initiate spiritual conversation. Practical suggestions for developing relationships with unchurched youth are: listen actively; engage with them on their turf; relate to them as a friend; encourage discovery of faith; speak to their questions and needs; allow time for adoption; personalise the message; avoid pressure to respond and use vivid word forms and stories (George Hunter, How to Speak to Secular People). Leaders could use a contacting process to develop meaningful relationships with humanity youth as they are seen, known and understood.
C. Share Salvation with Humanity Level Youth
At this level salvation could be called pre-evangelism, although there may be times when God has been working in the heart of a humanity level young person and they are ready to be led to Christ. Lee Strobel suggests the following relational strategy for bringing an unchurched person to Christ: (1) Believing Bob builds an authentic relationship with Unchurched Harry; (2) Believing Bob tells Harry how God has changed his life and communicates the gospel to him; (3) Believing Bob invites Harry to a meeting designed for seekers and answers questions and concerns; and (4) once Harry commits himself to Christ, he begins attending a meeting geared for new-believers (Inside the Mind of Unchurched Harry and Mary, Page 165). Two aspects of evangelising unchurched youth should be considered: (1) Programme Evangelism - this is evangelising though a programme, such as open-air ministry or sports evangelism after a sports event. It is important that these programmes are relationship-based; treat the unchurched youth with love and respect; are held on their turf; and revolve around an activity that appeals to them. (2) Personal Evangelism - here Christians seek to win people to Christ through one-on-one evangelism. They must not assume that the unchurched person understands the basics of salvation; accepts the Bible as authoritative or believes in the existence of God. Listening and checking for understanding is crucial in evangelising unchurched youth. The following process is a suggestion for sharing the gospel with humanity youth: (a) Establish Common Ground - Start by establishing a common point of reference with the young person. Whether you are talking about a sports event, a humorous happening or geographic place, ask questions that will cause the person to think and respond to you, ie. Who? What? Where? When? How? This is a time to collect information and look for opportunities to affirm and agree with the person. (b) Make a Transition - Use a sentence that provides an opportunity to talk about Jesus. Everyday conversation can be used to steer the discussion towards God. For example, Jesus used the subject of living water as a transition (John 4). You could begin with, “That reminds me of a story” or say “Could I take five minutes to share with you the most important thing in my life?” (c) Share Christ - There are different ways to talk about Jesus: (i) personal testimony - share what took place in your life before you were saved and what has happened since; (ii) question beliefs - ask “What does it mean to be a Christian?” to see whether people understand what being a Christian is all about; and (iii) share Christ - by talking about the message of the Christ-event. (iv) Close the Encounter - Once the gospel has been presented the person should be asked whether they would like to pray and make a commitment to Christ. It they are ready, a prayer of commitment can be used: “Dear Jesus, I ask you right now to forgive me of any wrongdoing. I ask you to be the Lord of my life. I ask you to be in charge of everything that I do. I ask you right now to forgive me of my sin. Thank you, Jesus, for answering this prayer. Amen.” If the person is not ready to pray you could ask: “What hindrances do you know of that are stopping you from making a commitment to Jesus Christ?” If the person is still not ready thank them for the opportunity you had of sharing Christ with them.
D. Do Follow-up with Humanity Level Youth
Should a humanity level youth give their life to Christ, they must be followed up by the person who led them to Christ or be placed into a follow up group. Lee Strobels’ strategy continues: (1) Once Harry commits himself to Christ, he begins attending a meeting geared for new-believers; (2) Harry joins a small group designed to help him grow spiritually; and (3) Harry discovers, develops and deploys his spiritual gift in order to honour God and build the group. Some general considerations on follow up that apply to all levels of commitment are: (1) arrange for a public profession of faith; (2) teach them about the need to be baptized; (3) encourage them to attend a church where they will study the Bible, fellowship and serve; (4) teach them to practise daily devotions; and (5) encourage them to share their faith.
5. Come Level Evangelism
Youth at the come level of commitment are those who attend the group for what they can get out of the group environment and experience. They make no promise of commitment to the group and may be there for different reasons: desire for community - youth enjoy a group setting and if they have a friend in the group who has invited them they will be keen to visit; desire for God - some come because they are seeking contact with God, desire for fun - some come because they have heard about a fun activity that the group is having; desire of parents - some come because their parents have sent them.
A. Make Contact with Come Level Youth
Making contact with this level of youth is so much easier than with pool of humanity youth, as they are at least coming onto the youth group’s turf. They will not, however, necessarily come without some strategising on the part of the leadership. Leaders must (1) Deal with Youth who Come by: (a) showing hospitality - let people know that you are glad they came and help them to feel at ease; (b) introduce youth - don’t leave them alone unless you have first introduced them to someone else; (c) explain everything - give an overview of what will be happening during the meeting so that youth can anticipate what is about to happen; (d) gather information - collect addresses and phone numbers of all the visitors to follow them up with a call or a visit during the next week; and (e) express appreciation - let visitors know you are glad they came and invite them to an upcoming event verbally and with printed information. Leaders must (2) Get New Youth to Come by working through young people who are already coming - it is usually the youth who have recently joined the group themselves who will bring the most newcomers to the group, because they still have a lot of non-churched friends. Leaders should model the value of including newcomers; encourage youth to bring newcomers (provide a low-risk, entry-level activity where newcomers can gain their first exposure to the group); and teach youth to include newcomers. Leaders (3) Get Youth who Come to Return - a survey has shown that if contact is made with a visitor or within 24 hours there is an 85% return rate. If contact is made within 72 hours there is a 60% return rate. If contact is made within 7 days there is a 15% return rate.
B. Develop Relationships with Come Level Youth
Relationships depend on the following four factors: (1) Nearness - youth group members must spend time in the presence of the newcomers; (2) Knowledge - they should get to know who the other person is and what their interests are; (3) Vulnerability - as people risk rejection they allow themselves to be known; and (4) Interaction - relationships grow as people participate in words and deeds. Before the newcomer leaves at the end of the programme, significant relationships must have been developed with them. A last minute effort at the end of the evening to convince them to return will be unsuccessful unless it is the culmination of an evening of relationship building.
C. Share Salvation with Come Level Youth
Come level youth are not necessarily attending the group to find God, so there will be a variety of reactions to spiritual issues, from cold indifference to warm acceptance. It is essential that youth leaders take the time to find out how they feel about God and Christianity. Remember that some youth will be seeking after a meaningful encounter with God and they need to have that need satisfied; while others need to experience the warmth of an accepting environment to get them to realise that God exists and that He cares about them. There are two aspects to sharing salvation here:
(1) Programme Evangelism - two models of come level evangelistic programming are suggested: (a) Son Life - a programming strategy for evangelism’s success that hinges on youth personally inviting their friends to an event. The event includes an activity, ie. a party which is well promoted; a brief transition time takes place during which a drama or musical item is presented to help youth focus on something more serious than the activity in which they’ve just participated; a brief gospel message; and an interaction time where food and drinks are provided. (b) Windsor Fellowship - a four-week programming strategy to attract, evangelise and assimilate come level youth: (i) Week 1 - Mega Rave - this is an event like ice-skating or go-karting. There is no gospel message on this evening, as the aim is to make contact with and build relationships with newcomers. (ii) Week 2 - Gospel Rave - this is an event like a travelling supper where the group travels from home to home for different parts of the meal. At the last home a youth evangelist presents the gospel. (iii) Week 3 - Christian Rave - this is an event that begins with a fun activity (ie. making a giant fruit salad) and is followed by a message that builds on the previous week’s gospel presentation. This event must not be too much of a Christian culture shock for the newcomers or they may not return. An apologetic-orientated, creative learning experience is better than a bible study. (iv) Week 4 - Issue Rave - this is an event where a current issue that young people are dealing with is addressed in an evangelistic way. For example, youth are taken to a clinic to hand out flowers and a card expressing Christian care and prayer for recovery. They then return to the youth group meeting place for an input with group discussion on "Where is God when it hurts?" During the discussion youth will be reminded that they need to need to enter into a relationship with God to experience his comfort.
(2) Personal Evangelism
The following process is suggested: (a) Take the initiative - during the meeting take the first step in approaching a young person. (b) Start a conversation - build rapport with the person by asking questions such as: Where are you from? Why did you come to the group? Is it what you expected? How has your week been? (c) Make a transition - during the meeting, a young person may mention the Bible or church. Use such opportunities to turn the conversation to spiritual matters. Try and discover what they believe by asking questions. (d) Clarify their beliefs - ask for clarification about what they have been saying. Question contradictory statements they make by asking: How do you know that these things are true? What is the basis for your understanding? (e) Share the gospel - if the person seems open to continuing then give a testimony or short statement of the gospel using an appropriate outline. Test their openness by asking: May I share with you what Christ has done for me? Would you like to hear the gospel as I understand it? Have you ever seriously considered becoming a Christian? (f) Call for response - if you sense God’s leading and they seem to understand that becoming a Christian means to repent, believe and follow, continue with questions like: Have you ever personally trusted in Christ or are you somewhere along the way? If they say yes, ask: How has that decision affected your life? If they say no, ask: How far along the way are you? Would you like to commit your life to Christ or are there still things holding you back? If they say yes, pray with them, or have them pray later in private. If they say no, thank them for talking with you and express an interest in continuing at a later stage. If the group has an investigative Bible study for seekers they should be invited to attend it.
D. Do Follow-up with Come Level Youth
David Veerman in Youth Evangelism suggests the following strategy for follow up: (1) Immediate follow through - as soon as they have prayed to receive Christ the person must gain an assurance of their salvation. They must understand that their relationship with Christ depends on what the Bible says and not on how they feel. They will gain an assurance of salvation as they read relevant Bible passages. Give them a Bible, show them how to read it and where to start, ie. Mark’s Gospel. Encourage them to let others know about their new relationship with Christ. (2) Within Seventy-Two Hours - The person who led the young person to Christ should make an appointment to visit them within 72 hours to talk about their Bible reading and their new relationship in Christ. The person should be shown how to have a quiet time, and made aware of the importance of attending church. (3) Basic follow-through programme - the aim here is to help the new convert develop confidence in their new relationship with Christ. This should take place during the first three weeks after the conversion experience. The discipler should review their commitment to Christ, help them put into their own words what happened to them and ensure that they have handled stage one and two. (4) Ongoing Bible teaching programme - the aim at this stage is to help the convert begin to grow spiritually. This involves incorporating the young convert into a Bible study group. At this stage checkup is important. If the person misses a study, they should be contacted and helped with what they have missed out on.
6. Grow Level Evangelism
Youth at the grow level are probably churched youth who are Christianised but not saved. They may have grown up in the church or have been attending the group for some time, but have not yet made the vital commitment that commences a relationship with Christ. Churched youth have heard the gospel before and may even think that they are saved.
A. Make Contact with Grow Level Youth
This is the easiest group of all to make contact with. They attend fairly regularly, at least to events that they see as fun or beneficial and they are even at those events that include spiritual input because they are willing to submit themselves to spiritual input. Why? This could be because they have integrated into the group through a socialisation process that met their need to belong. Or it could be because they have been considering the challenge to salvation, but have not yet made the move to follow Christ.
B. Develop Relationships with Grow Level Youth
Relationships with these youth have already been developed. It may even be possible that at some stage an evangelistic or discipling relationship was being pursued with them, but when they did not respond positively the relationship was ended or eased off. It is important that leaders do not overlook this segment of the youth group population in their efforts to evangelise youth. They should have a care and nurturing programme among the leaders of the group, assigning a few young people to each person to seek to develop meaningful relationships with them.
C. Share Salvation with Grow Level Youth
Effective evangelism with this level of youth involves: (a) Knowing the soil - Jesus’ parable of the sower suggests that there are four types of responses to the message of salvation. Grow level youth may be those who rejected the word when they heard it (the hard packed soil), those who made a commitment but it was killed by the pressure from friends (the soil on the path) or they may have responded to the message but worries, riches and pleasures chocked their new life (the soil among the weeds). Leaders must accept responsibility for weed-killing, rock-moving and ground-plowing in order to win grow level youth to Christ. (b) Challenging their beliefs - Sometimes these people have simply not had someone from the group challenge their beliefs or behaviour. They may actually think that they are saved and require someone to question their spiritual state before God. (c) Persevere with patience - realising that the grow level person is on a faith journey will help leaders avoid the error of viewing evangelism as a programme with a ‘success or failure’ ending. It is important to remember that God seeks the lost (Luke 15) and desires that none should perish (John 3:16, 10:28) - this is why he is patient with people (2 Peter 3:9). There are two aspects to sharing salvation: (1) Programming Evangelism - weekly gospel messages are probably not sufficient to move grow level youth to the disciple level. They have heard the message before and could possibly present the message during a meeting. What they need is an experience that will radically challenge their beliefs and practises. Extended-length learning experiences have more power to change lives than any other single programming option. (2) Personal Evangelism - these youth may have been exposed to church, Sunday School or the youth group for some time and therefore may have learnt how to talk Christianly, yet may not be saved. Leaders know these youth well and should be looking for ways to involve themselves in their lives beyond the church environment. They will probably have the greatest impact on this level of young person as they invite the person into their home or get alongside them during weekend retreats or camps. In terms of actually presenting the gospel to grow-level youth, the process is much the same as laid out for come level youth except that it is probably necessary to challenge them about whether they actually are Christian and deal with their objections to the faith. A one-on-one approach to the person, away from their friends and the group is probably the best approach to use with them.
D. Do Follow-up with Grow Level Youth
There are advantages and disadvantages in following-up grow level youth: (1) Advantages - They have a basic knowledge of the Scriptures; they probably come from a supportive home; they have regular contact with other people who can help them grow; and they have a cultural closeness with the Christian lifestyle. (2) Disadvantages - their knowledge is unapplied, the have not acted on what they know; they may be cynical because of their exposure to sin and hypocrisy; they may have been forced into instant spiritual gianthood because of parental expectations; they may have bought into the standards of the youth group without any personal conviction; they may identify Jesus with their infancy and not adulthood; and they may have had a protected upbringing, being protected from the harsh realities of life. John Allan gives a strategy for following up churched youth in Nurturing Young Disciples: (a) Create a Desire - preaching ‘you should’ at them will not turn them into disciples. They must see in action an attractive example of a radical lifestyle to emulate. It will help if they are exposed to youth who are spiritually alive. They also need to see in the leader’s personal example a model of spiritual maturity. (b) Look for Lydia, Identify Apollos - look for youth who have an impact on others. They may be gifted in bringing in others (like Lydia) or full of unharnessed potential (like Apollos). They are key to nurturing other grow level youth. (c) Form a Core Group - get those youth together who want to advance spiritually and have them pray together, support one another and explore New Testament principles of living, ie. in the Sermon on the Mount. Look for opportunities to take them away for camps or retreats. Encourage growth in the group by getting those who are growing more noticeable to help those just beginning to grow. (d) Emphasise Practical Action - the last thing these churched youth need is more unapplied doctrinal learning. Give them ways to apply what they know in projects where they demonstrate love in action. (e) Stay in Close Touch - be close enough to them so you can call them or get together between meetings. Allow your life to impact on them as you invite them into your world. (f) Overhaul Everything - don’t assume they have complete knowledge as they may have areas of ignorance or misconceptions that need correction. Help them to evaluate everything in the light of Scripture. Help them to see what God is doing in their lives and equip them to share it with others. (g) Point Them Towards Adults - get them to turn to adults in the congregation for wisdom and insight. Help them receive input from different people to ensure a well-rounded faith. (h) Send Them Out to Do Things - keep them involved in practical ministry: sharing their faith on the streets, doing acts of kindness and service, ministering within the group and the church, etc. (i) Teach Them to Support Each Other - show them how to be caring and sensitive to others and warn them against becoming Pharisaic in their attitude. Have them pray for their friends and unchurched youth and show them that they are responsible for the development of others. (j) Realise Your Limitations - there is a limit to the number of significant relationships anyone can have. Concentrate on a small group of people and have them disciple others.
7. Disciple Level Evangelism
Disciple level youth are youth who know Christ and who have a desire to grow spiritually. They take the initiative for their own spiritual development. They could be recent converts who have been followed up in the group and who have a desire to continue in their walk with Christ. To involve them in a ministry of evangelism they must be motivated to evangelism and missions. If leaders can awaken within these enthusiastic and growing Christians, a passion for the lost, they will have successfully handled evangelism at the disciple level. Leaders will motivate disciple-level youth to evangelism and missions as they: (1) Model a Life-Style of Evangelism - leaders must allow youth to get close enough to their lives to feel their passion for the lost and to watch them involved in real life evangelism. (2) Explore the Commission of Christ - Matthew 28:18-20. (3) Discuss the Evangelism of Jesus - In John 4:1-42 the following principles for evangelism are found: (a) rescuing people in spiritual peril requires us to strategically venture into their environment (1-6), (b) before we can be used to rescue someone from spiritual danger, we have to build a relational bridge to them (7-9), (c) at some point we have to clearly point out the path to safety (10-26), (d) we should be armed with evidence to help skeptics realise they need to be rescued (16-19), and (e) those who have been rescued should understand the urgency in reaching out to rescue others (28-30). (4) Create a Passion for the Lost - leaders create a passion for the lost in disciple level youth in the following ways: (a) hang around people with a passion - it is caught more than taught; (b) look around - people they pass everyday do not know God; (c) see life from a lost person’s perspective - have them imagine facing life without God’s guidance, comfort and assistance; (d) study the fate of unbelievers - lost people are destined for an eternity in hell (John 3:16-17, 14:6, Acts 4:12, 1 Timothy 2:5); (e) ask God for divine appointments - to bring lost people across their path; (f) develop an evangelistic mission statement; (g) see youth the way God sees them: as lost (they are like sheep without a shepherd); loved (God loves people and has embarked on a search and rescue mission to save them) and open (they are at a stage of life where they are the most open to the gospel). (5) Use Youth Relationship Networks - a key to commitment level youth ministry is getting youth to realise the important part they play in bringing unchurched youth into the youth group. One of the best ways to evangelise a community is to use the existing networks of friendships that youth in the group already have with outsiders. This is because youth already have a basis for relationships with their friends, it is easier to assimilate visitors who are invited by group members as they already know someone in the group, it forces group members to integrate their faith into the world they live in, and it gives a continual source of youth to reach. (6) Encourage Youth to Evangelise - disciple-level youth must be encouraged to find someone to share their faith with. Let them do this in a semi-controlled environment at first. (7) Motivate Youth to Missions - by (a) expanding their world view; (b) creating awareness for missions; (c) creating a global vision; and (d) involving youth in short-term missions.
8. Develop Level Evangelism
Develop level youth are those who take an interest in developing the spiritual lives of other young people. They are already well on the way to involvement in service and ministry opportunities. The evangelism process in a youth group is not complete unless youth are trained to evangelise their peers. This will ensure that efforts at evangelism are multiplied in the ministry. Young people are the ones who are in touch with youth in the youth group. They can most naturally make contact with young people, have the most opportunities for contact at school and other places, and if taught, give a credibility to the gospel to searching youth. While youth at the disciple level are taught how to develop a passion for the lost, youth at the develop level must learn practical skills that will equip them to evangelise youth, and be given opportunities to apply these skills in evangelism, service projects and mission trips. Leaders should: (1) Teach Youth about Jesus’ Evangelism (he used different styles of communicating the truth about Himself, with varying levels of personal relationship and amount of content in the message) - Relational (John 2), Environmental (John 3 and 4); Presentational (Luke 14:16f); Informational (Matthew 5-7; John 6:17); and Prayer (John 17). (2) Teach Youth How to Evangelise - by (a) Doing basic preparation - assurance of salvation; confession of sin; empowering of the Spirit; and willingness to witness. (b) Using different methods - prayer, relational, environmental, presentation, informational, worship, service and oikos. (c) Understanding different personalities - the New Testament reveals different approaches to evangelism and that each matches the nature of the person who used it: (i) Confrontational - Peter was a confrontational person, as he revealed who Jesus was, challenged Jesus; and walked on the water, and as an evangelist he was direct and bold (Acts 2); (ii) Intellectual - Paul was highly educated; an intellectual, and as an evangelist he presented a well-reasoned argument to the philosophers in Athens (Acts 17). (iii) Testimonial - when the Blind man was healed by Jesus, he had something worth talking about (John 9) - he spoke from his own experience with confidence. (iv) Interpersonal - after Matthew was called to be a follower of Jesus he put on a banquet for his tax collecting friends (Luke 5:29) - he genuinely cared about them and wanted to influence them towards considering the claims of Christ. (v) Invitational - after the woman at the well had encountered Jesus, she went into the town and brought a bunch of people to hear Jesus for themselves (John 4); (vi) Service - Dorcas was a woman well-known for her loving acts of service which she performed in the name of Christ (Acts 9:36). (d) Presenting the Gospel - while evangelism is mostly personal, interactive and unpredictable, it is helpful to teach youth a method they can use in presenting the gospel as it helps to overcome fears they may have of sharing their faith. It would be good to teach a method, such as the four spiritual laws, the Romans road or the facts life and then role play different situations in which they can apply what they have learnt. But leaders should expect youth to move past these methods and mix and match as they become more confident in sharing their faith. (e) Doing target evangelism - this involves getting youth to list unchurched friends that they want to reach with the gospel (called an evangelism prospect list). They pray for wisdom regarding who to include in the list, then prioritise the list and narrow it down to no more than ten people, and then begin to pray for those on the list each day. A relational evangelistic process is followed and each stage marked off on the list. The process is: Initial contact; Become better acquainted; Serve them; Friendship level; Sharing our faith; Witness of the Body; Exposure to the gospel; and Invitation. (f) Giving a testimony - a carefully prepared testimony, empowered by the Holy Spirit, can be of immediate and effective use. Paul’s testimony in Acts 26 is a biblical model: introduction (2-3); before conversion (4-11); how he was saved (12-20); after conversion (21-23); and closing (24-29). The main parts to a testimony are the before, how and after sections. (g) Making an invitation - in the context of personal evangelism, the invitation involves inviting the person to respond to Christ’s offer of salvation. It involves calling for a response from the individual concerning their acceptance of the work of Christ on the cross in light of their sin condition. When a positive response is evidenced, the person is led in a prayer, called the sinners prayer. In the context of programme evangelism, the invitation involves using some method to call a person to make a public or private response to follow Christ. Those who believe in calling people to respond in a visible way appeal to scriptures such as: John 6:35, 7:37; Matthew 11:28-30; Revelation 22:17; Mark 1:17 and Matthew 10:32,33. (3) Involve Youth in world Evangelism - Leaders can build courage in youth to tell others about Christ by identifying and dealing with one of the biggest hindrances after a lack of motivation - the fear of rejection. The fear of being turned down, laughed at, or looked upon by others as a religious fanatic has hindered many Christians from telling others about Christ. Leaders should remind youth that they are there to please God and not man (Galatians 1:10); and that they can pray for boldness (Ephesians 6:18-19). Leaders should create opportunities to involve develop level youth in formal evangelistic ministries. Have them begin sharing Christ in a way which will not bring them face to face with people, ie. through tracts; encourage them to let their light shine without speaking words (Matthew 5:16) or have them lend a friend a book or video that is evangelistic. When they are comfortable with indirect methods they can be encouraged to engage in direct evangelistic activities. If the church has an evangelistic programme they could join one of the teams or they could go on a visit to follow up youth who have visited the group. (4) Involve Youth in Group Evangelism - teach them how to function in the various commitment level programmes that the group has running: (a) Humanity Level - level they can help in the event that is being run with practical responsibilities. They must also be briefed on how they are there to testify with their life, even if they do not say a word. (b) Come Level - they should be taught how to welcome visitors to the group, develop significant conversations with them and ensure that they are incorporated into the relationship networks within the group. They should be used to give testimonies to the group and, where suitably gifted, present evangelistic messages. (c) Grow Level - encourage them to target churched individuals who have not yet made a firm commitment to trust Christ for salvation and seek to lead them to Christ. They should also be involved in the care and visitation programme. (d) Disciple Level - they can help with basic follow up of those who have made a commitment to serve Christ and help to communicate a passion for the lost to them. (5) Involve Youth in Service Projects - the group should run a series of youth meetings that exposed youth to various needy groups within the community and then look for a longer-term service project to implement. (6) Involve Youth in Mission Trips.
9. Multiply Level Evangelism
Multiply level youth are those youth who are ready to assume responsibility for an area of ministry within the youth group. Leaders who function with a core-based ministry model are those who tend to produce multiply level youth. They build into the lives of disciple or develop level youth in order to equip them to minister in the youth group. In this way they are able to multiply their efforts, fulfilling the scriptural guideline for ministry: “to prepare God’s people for works of service” (Ephesians 4:12). leaders should: (1) Train Them to be Examples - they should be living godly lives that causes other youth to questions why they are different; attractive lives that draws youth to Christ; and servant lives where through their service to others they are able to build bridges to share the gospel. (2) Train Them for Evangelism - leaders should teach multiply level youth how to function in the various commitment level programmes that the group has running. They should be able to lead evangelistic ministries, ie. visit, follow-up, present gospel messages and give invitations. They must be assigned responsibility for an area of ministry in evangelism and entrusted with the authority needed to fulfill their function. (3) Train Them to Teach Evangelism - by (a) running an evangelism training course where they discuss positive and negative feelings about evangelism, explore Jesus’ evangelism style and gospel presentation, discuss how to make contact with youth, explore how to develop relationships with youth, explore how to turn conversations into faith-sharing opportunities, explain how to handle a conversion response, and discuss how to follow up youth. (b) running an evangelism Bible study, and (c) running an evangelism simulation game. (4) Train Them for Responsibility - the person must be carefully chosen for the position, training must be provided that will provide them with the skills necessary to do the job, and the person supervised and coached as they fulfill the ministry position. The leader should take an active role in supporting the person in the ministry, providing resource as needed and offering assistance in difficult areas or situations. (5) Train Them to Cross Cultures - they should learn about the dynamics of moving between cultures, desire to build a culture-friendly youth group and how to minister to people of different cultures. (6) Train Them for Urban Ministry - the mission of the church is to reach people. By the year 2000, 50% of the world’s population will live in cities.
Read a report from a conference on evangelism held in South Africa in August 1997.
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