‘There’s so much for my young people that I wish had been there when I was younger. But when the wind blows the roots aren’t deep enough to keep them standing firm.’ I heard this time and time again during my 15 years of youth ministry everywhere I went.
Every visionary youth worker or youth pastor seems to have one main itch when it comes to discipling their young people – how do I get the roots deeper? As we know, the roots that bring nourishment to the rest of the body are embedded in the Word of God brought alive by the Holy Spirit. So how do we get those roots deeper?
There have been some amazing ‘disciplinary revivals’ for want of a better term over the past 20+ years of youth ministry. And they have revived areas of faith in Christian youth culture in a big way.
Worship
Worship has been revived for many young people over the past few years. This has not been just a stylistic change. It has restated many important elements of worship that may have been neglected over time. The models that have brought in this change have also sought to draw worship out of the church service and into a Jesus-focused lifestyle.
Prayer
The 24/7 prayer movement has massively altered the way young people pray and think about prayer. This model made prayer edgy again and accessible ¬– allowing experience and expression of prayer to be delivered with a consistent focus for a period of time.
This also resulted in the prayer expressions of young people leading others to pray and engage more. It is a revived discipline that has also found its way into many of our own youth groups and churches.
Social action and mission
With new worship models driving a life of worship the profile of social action and mission in the UK and abroad has increased. Many large initiatives such as Message 2000, Merseyfest, Soul in the City London and now Soul in the City Durban, not to mention Slum Survivor, 24 hour Famine and Stop the Traffik have helped young people re-engage with their world.
