Evangelism?
Okay, so it's no secret (to anyone reading this) that I'm fairly heavily involved in the Youth Alive event coming up this weekend. And as you're probably aware, it's a big outreach thing - get a whole lot of young people in, hype them up, do some music, preach a message, hope some of them respond and make a "commitment to Jesus".
Sounds great, right?
I'm really not entirely sure any more. Why do we need an event to make that commitment? Why do people make a commitment on the night - because of an emotional appeal by the speaker? because their friends told them to? because they think the guy down the front is giving out lollies (don't laugh, i've heard people say they've thought that)? Or a genuine move of the Holy Spirit?
More to the point - how many of these so-called commitments last for the next month?
Yeah, so there's been things put in place to try and connect people better in to youth groups, stuff like EXO. And they've been fairly effective. So what would happen if we just had that, and not the event it's supposed to lead up to?
And on that - the amount of time I've spent in just the past week worrying about videos for the event. How much more of an impact could I have had if I'd spent that building relationships with 1 or 2 kids in our school, or on the fringe of our youth ministry?
I'm not bagging the events at all, I think they're awesome. I'm just wondering if there's a better way to go around the whole thing of reaching out than trying to get everyone to an event.
I've seen so many kids from our schools come to an event, go down the front, come to church for a week or two, then drop out never to be seen again.
I've also seen so many kids come in to a small group, be loved and cared for by their leader and others in the group, discover Christ and grow in that Godly community. It may not be as "quick" or even as visible as the first, but I see it having so much more impact, especially when some of these kids are now reproducing exactly that with others - growing them into community.
I know which I prefer.
Sounds great, right?
I'm really not entirely sure any more. Why do we need an event to make that commitment? Why do people make a commitment on the night - because of an emotional appeal by the speaker? because their friends told them to? because they think the guy down the front is giving out lollies (don't laugh, i've heard people say they've thought that)? Or a genuine move of the Holy Spirit?
More to the point - how many of these so-called commitments last for the next month?
Yeah, so there's been things put in place to try and connect people better in to youth groups, stuff like EXO. And they've been fairly effective. So what would happen if we just had that, and not the event it's supposed to lead up to?
And on that - the amount of time I've spent in just the past week worrying about videos for the event. How much more of an impact could I have had if I'd spent that building relationships with 1 or 2 kids in our school, or on the fringe of our youth ministry?
I'm not bagging the events at all, I think they're awesome. I'm just wondering if there's a better way to go around the whole thing of reaching out than trying to get everyone to an event.
I've seen so many kids from our schools come to an event, go down the front, come to church for a week or two, then drop out never to be seen again.
I've also seen so many kids come in to a small group, be loved and cared for by their leader and others in the group, discover Christ and grow in that Godly community. It may not be as "quick" or even as visible as the first, but I see it having so much more impact, especially when some of these kids are now reproducing exactly that with others - growing them into community.
I know which I prefer.
posted by Jason at
12:53 am
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