By Chris Newton
A popular question that has been circulating the church for years is, how do we reach the young people? It seems the more money we have spent the less impact we have had. In our youth ministry we don’t really spend money on outreach anymore. Our goal when we do a youth outreach is to bring the reality of Jesus to those around us. That could mean that someone experiences the presence of God, a healing, or even a salvation.
One outreach we do is worship in the park. At one of those events there was a man who was demon possessed who made a lot of trouble. We invited him and others to come forward for prayer and as he mocked us we cast the demon out and he was free. He then received Christ. We have seen a few other healings at these worship events. At other times we have written prophetic letters to people and have delivered them to them in the mall. We have also visited refugees and Buddhist temples and after listening to their stories we have prayed with them.
The main outreach event we do with youth is what we call treasure hunts. In a treasure hunt God shows you several things about a person such as their favorite color, a sickness they may have or the clothes they are wearing. In fact, God could show you anything at all. These things are written down and then people are sent out in pairs to find their “treasure.” Once they find them they share the things God showed them and ask them if they are the person they are looking for. Many times the information on the paper is dead on. It is incredibly impactful. We had a young lady who had an impression of a boy dressed in a dark shirt with blue shoes and a hat. He had a specific logo on his shirt. She drew the picture of him just like she felt God was showing her. When her team was walking through the park she saw the exact boy that God had shown her. She quickly went to him and told him about her impression and showed him the drawing. She told him that God had seen him before they even met and that He wanted him to know how deeply He loved him. The boy said that he was an atheist but he had never heard of anything like this before. He was in tears. She was able to lead him to Christ at that point. We have even seen several people miraculously healed. We have seen everything from someone weeping and receiving Christ on the spot to people being healed and then being so scared that it actually happened that they run away.
To prepare our teens for outreach most of our instruction is centered on coming into union with Christ. We teach the kids how to become aware of Jesus. When they are able to feel what He feels, see what He sees, and know what He knows they are ready to minister to others. Almost all of our teaching and worship services are centered on our kids learning how to connect with Christ for themselves as well as how to minister to others. Sometimes our kids minister to others in their school. Last week one of the girls who had been recently touched by God went to her school and began praying for some of her Muslim friends. The other girls felt the presence of God so strongly that they began to cry and fall over and they asked her to please stop because they were scared. They had never felt anything like that.
Our teens grow up so much by reaching out. They overcome their fears and learn to trust God for the miraculous in the most awkward moments. We have seen several people come to Christ and be touched by God. The teens feel so important and empowered when God uses them! One boy in particular that I remember did not receive Christ when we spoke to Him. We had just prayed for him at the skate park. Nothing spectacular happened. But we invited him to the youth group. He showed up with a few of his friends and stood at the edge of the service. At one point he came up to the front and was crying and shaking violently. He said he didn’t know what was happening but thought it must be God. He received Christ that day. He had never been in a church before.
In order to reach our young people we must bring the reality of Jesus to them and allow them to experience Him first hand through His presence, power and love.
Chris Newton is the Youth Pastor at Two Rivers Church in Gilbert, AZ.
