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Articles and Quotes YOUTH EE: A Discipleship Ministry (5/03) YOUTH EE WORKS! Shayne Wheeler, a Youth Pastor in Fredericksburg, Virginia says, “We now have nine people who are able to train their friends on how to share Christ. Next semester we will have space for 27 people to be involved in Youth EE and there is a waiting list! Teens are lining up to take EE because they have seen the fruit.” Growing up in church today, young people participate in a lot of fun activities, lock-ins, camps, trips, etc. They usually receive some Christian teaching in youth groups, Bible studies, and Sunday School. But are they being discipled in their faith? Can they defend what they believe and why? Have they learned to mentor others in the Christian faith? The key to discipling teens in their faith is to do it NOW, while they are young. According to George Barna, of the Barna Research Group, 75% of young people who grow up in Christian homes, or participate in church youth group activities, or attend a local church, will go off to a secular college, where they will leave their Christian faith and church. Again, according to George Barna, “Most of the highly effective disciple-making churches integrate mentoring and coaching into their process. Each of the churches we studied is sold on the value of mentoring”. . . “the toughest jobs, we discovered, are training people to be effective mentors”. . . “knowing how to integrate someone into the flow”. . . “keeping people’s time commitment up to snuff and preventing the mentoring process from becoming strictly a fellowship effort.” Youth EE is highly qualified to accomplish exactly that! In any church
where youth pastors and youth workers lead a Youth EE ministry the following
commitment is made: The Great Commission was the first command He gave His followers when He began his earthly ministry, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.” It was His last command with a promise just before He ascended into Heaven, “You shall be My witnesses”. . . “even to the remotest part of the earth.” Someone once said, “The person who wants to know God, but who has no heart to obey Him will never enter the sacred courts where God reveals Himself to the soul of man.” Youth Pastors offer their young people a powerful, knowledgeable, and intimate relationship with Christ when they teach them and equip them to obey the “Great Commission.” Youth Pastors and Youth Leaders have the same responsibility to equip their teens in their youth group for the work of service, just as the Senior Pastor has to equip the laity in his church. Teens are also “to be built up in the body of Christ, that they may attain to the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man.” Can a Youth Pastor help his teens to avoid being “tossed here and there by waves, carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming,” when they head off to secular colleges? We say a resounding YES! Through the discipleship training ministry of Youth EE, kids can be led into mature and stable Christian living. Can Christian teens learn the significance of 2 Timothy 2:2 for their own lives, as well as adult church members? “You have heard me teach many things confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Teach these great truths to trustworthy people who are able to pass them on to others.” Youth EE turns teens into skilled mentors, while they acquire a deeper under-standing of grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone. As many adults know, who have trained teens in Youth EE, teenagers are unusually bold, fearless, and confident once they are equipped to share the Gospel. We at Youth EE, pray earnestly that every Youth Pastor who is serious about discipling and equipping the young people in his youth group, will attend a Youth Clinic, implement the ministry, see teens set on fire for Christ and then going out and joining the first century Christians who were accused of “turning the world upside down” for Jesus. (Acts 17:6) Finally, Youth EE not only instructs young people in God’s Word, as they learn the Gospel outline and scriptures, it also arms them against the post-modern philosophy of today’s youth. Then, they learn in one more way, the importance and power of prayer. Praying for their trainees, for their professions, for divine appointments and for opportunities to witness to their family and friends becomes a habit that leads to more dependence on God in their daily lives. Youth EE stresses the importance of prayer because Jesus taught us to pray in everything, believing, giving thanks, and thus strengthening again our personal relationship with Him. Youth EE will nurture your kids into committed Christians right before your eyes. Will you give the teens in your youth group one of the best supplements to spiritual growth they will ever experience? Who can stop your young people from boldly proclaiming Christ in the power of God’s Spirit once they have been equipped? Train your kids and watch God keep his promise to use them, as He did Timothy. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young”. . . ”devote yourself to teaching” . . . ”do not neglect your gift.” (I Timothy 4:12) YOUTH EE WORKS! Call us today! Sandy Nicolosi (Caution: Because of the large number of spam emails, please put "EE" or "Youth EE" in subject line of your email. That will get it past our spam blocker. Thank you)
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