Time to get in the game
A call for youth ministry to pick up the baton
Mary is 85 years old. Her husband passed away two years ago. She recently had a serious fall and hurt her hip badly. She’s had numerous surgeries and illnesses over the past five years. And she still manages to run a food pantry that feeds over a thousand people a month.
Mary’s story is not unique. I've spent a lot of time getting to know people who run agencies like food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, job programs, after school programs, etc that are run thru the local churches. In the hundreds of them that I've talked with over the past year, I see many things in common, but the one thing that stands out to me as a youth minister is this — those who run them, and volunteer with them, are overwhelming gray.
Gray, as in gray hair. Old Folks. Seasoned. Senior saints.
They are living out Jesus’ command to serve “the least of these” and do it without fanfare, recognition, or awards. They might even get derided as “out of touch” or “grouchy” or any other number of ways we describe older individuals in our church. They don’t use their iPads as Bibles, drink Starbucks during the service, or know the words to the latest Chris Tomlin song. They have us beat on one thing though — understanding what it means to be the hands and feet of Jesus.
My question is, “Where are our teens?”
In all the agencies that I've talked with over the past year, they all desperately need volunteers. They also need an infusion of new blood. Many of these people have been doing this for 30+ years and have no one who can step in and continue the ministry for them.
I believe that youth ministry has done a great job in doing service projects and mission trips, with hundreds of thousands of young people serving each year. But we miss the mark when we’re spending hundreds of dollars to go a thousand miles away to serve the poor and needy for a week, when we can serve the poor and needy in our own neighborhood every day for free.
Its time we step up our game, youth ministers. Its time we begin to live out, daily, Jesus’ call to love the least of these. Find an organization in your area (believe me, they are there) and offer to partner with them. Not a one day “project”, but a partnership where your teens make this their mission to serve. We need to start a wave of service in our communities, a revival begun by young people who love Jesus and take seriously the commitment to be his hands and feet.
Take the baton from the previous generation. Get in the game.
