Empower Youth for Ministry

 

Hello everybody, my name is Dean Davis, and this is “Multiply,” the podcast that provides a word of encouragement for Village Church Planters. 

I was 12 years old and a new Christian. I was just beginning to read the Gospels and really discover who Jesus is. I knew He loved me and had forgiven my sins.  I loved Jesus and wanted to follow him.

So, when the youth of my church planned an evangelistic trip, I asked if I could join them.  Everyone seemed surprised. No one had thought to invite me. After all, I was only 12 years old and had only been a part of the youth group for a few months.  But after a few days they decided it would be OK for me to join the team.  I was the youngest kid in the group.  There were a few adults on the team along with youth aged 13 to 18. 

No one really expected much of me, but I learned a great deal from the evangelistic examples of the older youth and adults who led the trip.  They modeled the way with prayer.  They prayed for things that I had never thought to ask God for, like transportation to get our team to the place where we would evangelize.  Their faith challenged me. They taught me how to share my testimony and how to listen. They called out to God for people to be saved.

Not only did they model the ways of ministry to the 12-year old Dean Davis, they helped me be a better servant of Christ.  Over time, as they learned to trust me as a growing Christian, they gave me more responsibility.  The leaders of my youth group modeled the way for me; they assisted me; they allowed me to minister as they watched me develop, then they left ministry responsibility in my hands.

Those first seven years of my walk with Christ were very formative. Everything I have done in ministry during the 48 years since I graduated from that youth group is built on the ministry lessons, I learned starting with that first evangelism trip.  And here’s the thing:  When those youth leaders were showing me the way to minister, they never dreamed that someday I would apply their lessons in other nations.  They never dreamed that I would be a missionary privileged to work on 5 continents. And neither did I.  But the lessons they taught me when I was just 11 years old are still bearing fruit in the lives of hundreds and thousands of people today.

I share my story with you to encourage you.  Keep on investing in the youth of your churches. Let them know you believe in them and are trusting God to do great things in and though them. Keep on modeling the way.  Give young people a chance to minister.  Help the youth of your churches succeed.  They may look small and weak and awkward today.  But God delights to give grace to the humble and use the weak to display his glory. So, by God’s grace and with the help of your good example, in a few short years some of your young people will have a ministry that is far greater than anything you can imagine today.  

This has been “Multiply.” And I’m Dean Davis asking, “Who will you share this encouraging word with today?

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