The Advent Youth
We have never fully realized the potential of this army of youth. At various timesin our history, at different places in the Adventist world, we.ve come close. We.ve tapped into that potential army with tremendous results. But in too many places, too much of the time, the .army of youth. remains an unrealized dream. As youth leaders, we spend effort and energy trying to entertain our youth so they won.t slip away from the church. We argue among ourselves about how to solve the .problem. of our youth. We worry about their dress, their music, their deportment, their games and movies and dates. It.s time we actually put our effort towards mobilizing God.s army! Our twofold focus as Adventist youth leaders must always be salvation
and Service. We work to introduce our young people to Jesus Christ so that they will choose a saving relationship with Him for themselves. The second part of this work, equally important, is to then train them to bring His message of love and hope to others.
Discipleship is the process of learning to follow. Ultimately, the leader we want our youth to follow is, of course, Jesus. As leaders, we ourselves need to be Christ.s disciples. Then we need to encourage young people to become our disciples, in order to teach them to follow Jesus. Paul said: .Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1, NIV). |  |
 | Mission: Following Jesus. example means doing the kind of loving service for others that He did. We can give our young people countless opportunities to serve others both in their own communities and around the world. Whether it.s mowing the grass for a senior citizen, serving lunch at a soup kitchen, or building an orphanage in another country, mission and service projects will draw our young people closer to Jesus than any other activity we can plan for them.Evangelis: Reaching the world with His message is the ultimate goal of our Adventist youth ministry. With our focus clearly on Salvation and Service, we need to provide evangelistic opportunities for our own young people to make a decision for Jesus, and then involve them in evangelism--both traditional and non-traditional--that will give them the opportunity to share His message with others.
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