The Church must intentionally teach
young people to share the Gospel
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, November 18, 2009
‘People need people’
In his presentation Miller asked three questions:
How many came to Christ because the pastor came to their house and shared the Gospel?
How many came to Christ because of a television or radio program?
How many came to Christ because a friend talked to you or took you to hear the Gospel?
There were no responses to the first two questions, but for the last one a sea of hands waved in the air.
“May I suggest to you that people need people,” Miller said.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – “We have Christian students every day in the public schools and the public community. We have youth involved in living life. Are they equipped to advance the Kingdom of God?” was the question in Chad Miller’s seminar, “Reaching the next generation with the Gospel.”
Miller is director of Dare to Be a Daniel, a youth evangelism training project of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. His presentation was part of the 2009 National Conference on Christian Apologetics held at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, N.C. The two-day conference, “Apologetics and the Local Church,” was held Nov. 13-14 and sponsored by Southern Evangelical Seminary.
Miller said that 55 percent of student leaders in the church say they do not know how to share the Gospel. He said these students claim they love Jesus, but when a friend or non-Christian asks them about their faith, they say “let me get the youth pastor.”
“If we are going to reach the next generation,” Miller said, “We are going to have to intentionally mobilize our young people.”
“God cares about His word,” Miller said. “God cares that young people are intentionally taught and shaped with a Biblical worldview, but that will not happen by chance. We must be intentional about it.”
“Jesus did not call us to take His cause to the world,” Miller said. “We are to take Jesus Christ to the world … make Him known to the world.”
“We have messaging techniques that are awesome, more technology than ever, access to resources like never before, but we have more Biblically illiterate church members than ever before,” Miller said.
“Are we strategically and intentionally equipping and releasing our people to share the Gospel,” he asked.
Miller talked about driving past a school ball field early on a Saturday morning and seeing many young people there running laps and exercising. “They were there because someone told them to be there and expected them to show up,” he said.
He said there is now a generation of lost students who don’t care about God and don’t care for the people of God. And there is a generation of Christian students who are “over entertained” by the church and “under challenged” by the church.
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Students want to achieve. They want to belong to something that is bigger than they are, Miller said. Churches should not be content that their youth are entertained or not falling asleep in the service, or not doing anything worse.
Miller quoted I Peter 3:15 “but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
The young people do not have to be theologians, he said, “but can they clearly communicate? Are they ready to give an answer for the hope they have?”
“The goal and aim of all ministry has to be making disciples – not growing ministry – but making disciples,” he said, quoting from Matthew 28:19 “Go ye therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
“Jesus did not say ‘go ye therefore and get decisions for Christ,’” Miller added. “The goal of the proclamation of the Gospel is not to get people to agree with our ideas. The goal of the proclamation of the Gospel is to make disciples of all nations.”
Miller said it wasn’t enough for Christians to think that a non-Christian can tell “I am a Christian by seeing me live my life. It’s hogwash. … You can feed the hungry and cloth the naked and they can go to hell full and warm – they need the words of the Gospel.”
“Whatever your ministry is – Sunday school teacher, youth worker – the goal of all is to make disciples,” he said. He encouraged churches to have high expectations of their young people. Equip them for evangelism. They have significant contact with other teens. “How are we leveraging that for the advancement of the Kingdom of God,” he asked.”
Dare to Be a Daniel is an evangelism training program for tweens (kids 9-14). This engaging and relevant approach will equip young people to live boldly for Jesus Christ and share Him with their friends. For more information visit the Web site at www.daretobeadaniel.com