years to middle school, junior high, and
high school are highly stressful – many
churches don’t expect and plan for supporting kids through these transitions.
The study opened the eyes of many to
the significance of junior high ministry.
The junior high years are an awkward
time, not fitting neatly either as children
or youth. Most churches have nothing for
this group, so they get bored, discontented,
ignored and eventually leave. When leaders in China wanted to indoctrinate that
country with communist philosophy, they
chose the junior highs as their focus. Why
is it that the most mouldable and impressionable group in our churches is often
ignored?
The Lord has laid on my heart a passion for this group, as they are often overlooked. I have formed two junior high
fellowships (and worship services) in
three different churches. I currently meet
with the junior highs in my church every
other Friday. The times we have together
are important because this is often the age
when they decide if they will follow Jesus.
When Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and
Azariah began in Babylon, they were most
likely junior high age, and they stood tall
for the Lord. Junior highs have the potential to be sold out for God, but the Church
ignores them, and they eventually have
other things in this world that capture
their hearts.
What I have found about junior highs
– or any other ministry – is that relation-
ship is more important
than programs. We must
spend more time culti-
vating relationships with
them than the programs
we produce. When we
are there for the junior
highs, the fruit will come
in time. Not only will we
see the fruit of many of
them mature in Christ,
but some of them will become pastors,
missionaries and other leaders.
Understanding the Value of Inter-
generational Community. Hemorrhag-
ing Faith also concluded that part of the
problem is “We have separated children
and young people from the adults in the
Church. . . . [A]ttempts to guide young
adults to think differently about their
lifestyles must be grounded in strong
relationships – intentional mentoring re-
lationships that cross generations will be
especially helpful.”
Sometimes I wonder if it is our youth
programs that are suffocating our youth.
We have successfully separated our youth
from the influence of most adults to be with
“their age group.” Let’s stop thinking “youth
events” mean our adults are not involved.
We need to help the generations in our
church interact. As Paul wrote to Timothy,
“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but
exhort him as if he were your father. Treat
younger men as brothers, older women as
mothers, and younger women as sisters,
with absolute purity” (1 Timothy 5:1-2).
Every Sunday in our church, we have
testimony time in our service. Our adults,
teens and even children are willing to test-
ify to the goodness of God. We are still try-
ing to figure it out, but we know we need to
develop an environment in our congrega-
tions to appreciate each other and share
with one another intergenerationally.
Understanding the Value of the King-
Connect your story with the Biblical
story of the people and land of Israel
dom. We also find in Hemorrhaging Faith:
“Young adults are more likely to stay engaged in the church if they are directly
involved in the missional activities of the
church. . . . [W]e should be equipping
youth and young adults for mission, giving some of them opportunities to grow
as leaders, as well as a safe place to fail.”
When the church is active in missions,
it is active in Kingdom matters. This next
generation could care
less about church personnel, church policy
or church politics. They
would rather invest in
the Kingdom that impacts eternity.
When Jesus sent
the Twelve out to the
lost sheep of Israel, He
told them, “As you go,
proclaim this message: ‘The Kingdom of
heaven has come near’” (Matthew 10: 7).
The central message was about the Kingdom of God.
Yet many Christians value church matters over Kingdom matters. It’s time we
repent of valuing our buildings that will
one day be rubble. It’s time we repent of
valuing our programs that will one day be
irrelevant. It’s time we stop valuing positions, status, and money as the driving
force of the Church instead of the Holy
Spirit. It’s time we value the things that
matter in the Kingdom – love, righteousness, humility and faith.
The Hemorrhaging Faith study highlights that what we are doing is not working. We need to re-evaluate our ministries
to our youth. We also need to re-evaluate
what it means to be the Church.
Many times our youth have left the
Church because the “religion” they have
experienced means nothing to them. I feel
for them. There have been times when I
wanted to give up my religion so I could
follow Jesus. The sad reality is that when
our youth give up their religion, many of
them are not following anyone. Ft
Sometimes
I wonder if it is
our youth
programs that
are suffocating
our youth.
KAI MARK is the founder and pastor of
unionville oasis Community Church in
markham, ont. He has been working with
teenagers for over 30 years, including
co-ordinating the Teens’ Conference and
Saturday night Live, two outreach events
for teens in the Chinese community.
