Let Youth Take the Lead

The following article was published on Christian Today by Christina Tyson a colleague of mine in New Zealand.

https://christiantoday.co.nz/news/let-youth-take-the-lead.html

As Christina notes when talking about younger people stepping up and answering the call to ‘Officership’ and local leadership within the church: “I’d like to think that as an organisation we (The Salvation Army) would be willing to embrace such leadership. And yet, at the same time, I hear some of my peers (and even those many years younger) protest that these would-be candidates for ministry are ‘too young’. ‘They need more experience first. Let’s give them a few more years.’ I am glad these people were not in the room when I was applying to become an officer at the age of 21!

In the church we send mixed messages. We call for innovation and change, yet side with caution and conservatism. And then we wonder at the downward slide of Christianity – 2018 census figures just released in New Zealand show that the number of people identifying as Christian has fallen from 47.65 per cent in 2013 to 37.31 per cent!”

As one who encourages younger people into areas of responsibility and leadership, and helps them to develop ~ I pray that we would get better at developing and training them and releasing them for mission and ministry, wherever it is that God places them, both now and in the future. So that we can reverse the trend!

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