Youth EE - Articles and Quotes

Articles and Quotes

YOUTH EE: An Evangelism Ministry
Rick Bond Vice President

Becky Cook, a recent graduate of a 4-day youth clinic in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida wrote to us. She says: “Jen has been coming to our Bible study and frequently asks questions. To sum up, last night we went shopping and to Applebees…after artichoke dip, a burger, a cute waiter and fish and chips later she said it made sense and yes she’d like to receive the free gift of eternal life…(if the ink is running on your page, it’s because I’m crying a little). It was amazing that she was interested in hearing the whole story”. . .“What I am grateful for is that without Youth EE who knows how long it would have taken for me to get around to explaining a commitment to Christ and inviting her to respond. I feel incredibly amazed and humbled. Thanks.”

Youth EE works! Evangelism Explosion (EE) is a ministry that trains people how to share their faith. Its uniqueness lies primarily in the fact that it is an equipping ministry, seeking first to train people in evangelism, and then helping them to train others. “Multiplication” best describes the growth of EE in this country and around the world. It began in 1962, and the growth worldwide has been nothing short of meteoric. In this relatively brief time EE has grown to the point where, in March of 1996, we celebrated being in every nation on earth. As far as we know, no other organization or visible church has been able to accomplish this in 2000 years of church history.

Early on, we found that young people, as well as youth pastors and leaders desired this training. However, the EE presentation was, naturally, first created for adults. So, a youth version was developed that was “youth friendly.” In June of 1995 a department was created specifically for Youth EE. Drawing on my own experience from directing a large Youth EE ministry at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, here in Ft. Lauderdale, where we trained approximately 100 young people per year. Youth EE is now spreading rapidly to churches around the US and worldwide.

In 1995 Youth EE was training young people in approximately 60 churches in the US, and in 4 foreign countries. Today it is being used in about 550 churches in the US, and in over 70 other nations, so we are hardly able to keep up with the inquiries. We have conducted many 4-day Youth EE training clinics for pastors and youth leaders in the US since 1996, and have 14 clinics scheduled for this year. Also, we are seeing a growing demand for it worldwide, with training clinics conducted recently in Germany, England, Spain, Romania, Albania, Siberia, Ukriane, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, The Solomon Islands, Tonga, Jamaica, Grenada, Puerto Rico and Trinidad. We have more Youth EE mission trips planned for this summer. We send Youth EE teams on summer mission trips to launch the Youth EE ministries in many of these countries.

Youth EE is launched by bringing together youth pastors, youth workers and key student leaders to receive training in 4-day seminars, called Leadership Training Clinics. In these clinics men, women, and youth are taught every aspect of how to begin and grow a Youth EE ministry. Upon returning to their churches they start to train young people, not only how to effectively share their faith with their peers, but also how to train their Christian friends to do the same. This is accomplished through 13-week training semesters. The effect is that growth takes place at an ever-increasing rate.

Youth EE is designed to be tremendously cost effective. We train people who operate out of their own local church budget.

The excitement about youth is that they GO! They go where others don’t go or won’t go - to their peers in the youth culture. Demographically, across America, statistics show that the number of professions to Christ, after the age of 18, diminishes significantly. Even fewer make a profession of faith after that age in many other countries. There is, then, a huge opportunity among the youth here in the states and around the world! Will you launch Youth EE ministry in your church? Youth EE works!

rbond@eeinternational.org

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