Empowering our Youth as World Changers

I often find myself meeting with small groups of adults and talking to them about how to respond to the current generation of young people - a generation who desire to change the world and who are actually looking for inter-generational relationships.

On a recent trip to Wisconsin, I was with such a small group and one of the people in the group happened to bring along their 18 year old daughter. I found myself sharing about young people, describing the current youth generation and all the time wondering how this was being perceived by this 18 year old. One of the things I shared was the various ways we can respond to young people who have dreams and visions to change the world and a desire to be heard by older generations. You can get a better overview of what I shared by going to the article I recently posted on my website by clicking here .

After I finished speaking, I gave an opportunity for people to respond, share their thoughts and ask questions. A number of the people in the group commented about young people and asked questions to gain further clarification of what I had shared. Eventually, Ed, my colleague who was travelling with me, asked this 18 year old what she thought about it all. She said that she had been captivated by what I was saying. She stated that she had many dreams and visions for changing the world for the better and for getting involved in church, but she said that nobody wants to listen. She also said that she longed for inter-generational relationships - she longed to hear older people’s stories and for older people to listen to hers. She expressed a great desire to be validated and affirmed by older generations. She expressed in a very heartfelt way how the disillusionment and alienation she felt within the Church was actually driving her away from involvement in local church community. She was very insitent that we all understood that her love for Jesus and commitment to her faith was not diminshing, but that she was drifting away from the Church because she simply couldn't find a place there.

It was so refreshing to have this young woman share at this gathering. She so clearly expressed what young people are experiencing and feeling in the Church today and she overwhelmingly reinforced our need to validate them, empower them to lead and have strategic input into who the church is and how we impact the world. Unfortunately, many churches seem to misunderstand where young people are today or know the proper response that needs to be extended to these world-changers. I pray that this young woman, who has so much potential, will find a place in the Church where she can lead now rather than be rejected as somebody who has to wait until they are older before they can have any valid role of leadership or influence.