Young Adult Ministry
REACHING our YOUNG PEOPLE WITH THE GOSPEL
When joining a church, parents are right to ask, “Do they have anything here for my kids?” Christian parents know firsthand that the world has many deadly temptations, and it is right to seek out a local church family that can come along side them to help their kids live godly lives in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. We long to see young people who resist the temptations of this world and who live lives that proclaim “Only Jesus”. We’re convinced this work is done through the teaching of the Word and relationships with the whole church community. Here are some of the main ways we see reaching our young people taking place:
Through Parents
The most important roles in our ‘youth ministry’ are parents. The Bible makes it clear that the primary responsibility for training children to be like Jesus belongs to the parents (specifically the Fathers). The book of Ephesians says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4) That means the most important two people teaching a child that Jesus is the Savior of the world is Dad and Mom. It also means Dad and Mom carry a crucial role in teaching, modeling, and encouraging a gospel-centered life in word and deed.
Through Worship Gatherings
The center of our Worship Gatherings is the teaching of the Bible. As we gather to sing the Word, to pray the Word, to listen to the Word, and talk about the Word, we believe our children and young adults will receive great Gospel-Centered training, teaching, and encouragement they need to follow Christ.
Through Immerse Classes and Bible Studies
We see the benefit of having our children, youth, and young adults gather each Wednesday to sit under the teaching of God’s Word together in our Immerse classes. These classes cover all ages with classes from nursery age up to junior high and young adult and adult classes. Parents are also encouraged to bring their youth with them to the many Men’s and Woman’s weekly bible studies. These meetings take place at the building, in café’s, and in people’s homes where weekly sharpening, prayer, relationship building, and study of God’s Word takes place.
Through Service in Ministry Teams
We believe another vital part of growing up and maturing in Christ is learning to interact with and serve others in the church family and community through a ministry team. It means serving alongside others in your church family learning how to treat younger women and older men as is proper in the Lord (1 Timothy 5:1-2). It provides ways to learn in humility to count others more significant that yourselves and looking not only to your own interests but also the interests of others (Philippians 2:3-4) These teams also afford opportunity for our youth as they are growing up to begin discovering and putting into practice spiritual gifts. (1 Peter 4:10) We desire to see young people and older people interacting and learning together how to love one another well in Christ.
Through One-on-One Relationships
(Relationships In-Christ where there are many Brothers and Sisters, Fathers and Mothers, Grandpas and Grandmas)
At New Life we have not one youth leader but hundreds of youth leaders, as each member of the church family carries a role in praying for, speaking into, and living life with our youth that they might know, walk with, and treasure Christ more. One of the wonderful blessings of community is close, personal relationships. It is truly a precious thing when two Christians begin to meet to encourage one another, or so that one person can disciple the other. We love to see older women meeting with younger women, and older men meeting with younger men just as we see described in Titus 2.
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The most effective ways we have seen young men and women mature and grow in Christ and becoming active participants in the work of Gospel ministry is through the constant drip of the Gospel. This comes from a multitude of various interactions within the whole body of Christ. No single ministry or teacher can fill this role that the whole body is called to participate in.