The author wrote that although the faith situation and spirituality of the youths directly influence the future of the church, unfortunately, the amount of dedication of churches and ministries towards different aspects of youth ministries are often far from sufficient. For example, Sunday school resources and reference books have in recent years become more abundant for adults and children, but the Chinese books on youth ministries are few and the ones that fits according to the situation in mainland are even fewer.
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The author hopes that there will be more Christian education specialists, Christian mental counselors, experienced youth ministry workers, existing church pastoral staffs who’ve started developing youth ministries can write books, providing more precious opinions and suggestions on the area of youth ministries, from a professional and faith perspective.
4. Holes in Structure, Serious Signs of Loss
The youths represent a low percentage among the believers in various churches, and the signs of loss have become very serious. In regards to this, the author suggested for pastors to research carefully, searching for the appropriate channels and ways to approach these youths and understanding their thoughts and needs, to try to understand their hearts. If the church wants revival, then the pastors need to pay the price. In this way, it will be an effective ministry.
In addition, to keep the youths in church, have them devote entirely in faith, and have them invite more youths to church to understand about Christian faith are all ways and methods to fundamentally resolve the loss of youths in churches, holes in structure of church believers.
Lastly, the author emphasized the need for a ministry team for church’s youth ministries rather than for one or two people carrying heavy responsibilities. Besides this, the other point of caution is not to set success upon the increase of people in the ministry or the creativity of event.
To be a friend of youths, it is necessary to understand their thoughts, to listen to their feelings, and to fervently pray for them, allowing the Holy Spirit to change their lives, and allowing Jesus to accompany these youths to walk peacefully and successfully through this special stage in life.
