Malaysian churches are in danger of losing their youths, like what is happening in Western churches, if nothing is done to intentionally grow the youth ministry. Already, one denomination in Malaysia has labelled its youth ministry “the sunset ministry”, warned Dr Herbert Tan, a consultant and trainer on youth ministries.
“The church is growing older. The average age of church membership in a well-established church is 60,” he said. “However, there are ‘points of light’ in churches or denominations which have intentionally addressed the issues and needs of youth ministry.”
Dr Tan was addressing some 70 youth workers and pastors attending the Youth Workers Consultation in October organised by NECF YouthNet. The participants from various para-church organisations, denominations and churches gathered to brainstorm issues facing Malaysian youths and youth ministries.
(NECF YouthNet, a ministry of the NECF Malaysia, is a network of Christian youth organisations and churches involved in the ministry to youths.) Many alarming and eye-opening issues were raised and at the end of the consultation, the participants resolved to take three broad steps to move the youth ministry ahead.
1. Raising and developing youth ministers
Participants first clarified that youth ministers include lay workers, and not just full-time workers. They agreed that churches must change their mindset in regards to preparing people for the youth work. It is a mistaken belief among church leaders that it is enough for youth ministers to have passion and concern for the ministry.
Dr Tan pointed out studies by anthropologists, which showed that the youth culture changed every four years; therefore youth workers must be trained and updated to meet the changes. And since the youth culture changes so rapidly, there is a vast difference between the world of youths and non-youths. Therefore, it would help if churches think of the youth ministry as a type of cross-cultural ministry.
He also quoted a recent survey on youth counsellors and advisors which reported that 52% of them said they were “thrown into” the youth ministry. They were not called or set apart. “This is not wrong but it’s not intentional,” Dr Tan said. The survey also revealed that 25% of the respondents said they self-study to prepare for the ministry while only 9% had some form of formal training.
“Is this the way to prepare workers for cross-cultural missions? We spend time and money training workers for the mission field. What about our youth workers?” he challenged.
And there’s no excuse for Malaysian churches not to train their youth workers as there are many avenues for training. Some of them are TRAC and TAC (run by the Methodist denomination) and IBAYD (Brethren), Seminari Theoloji Malaysia, Baptist Theological Seminary, Malaysian Campus Crusade for Christ and SUFES.
General Secretary of Fellowship of Evangelical Students Annette Arurajah, who spoke on “Staying on in the Youth Ministry”, shared both her success stories and struggles as a youth worker for some 20 years. Youth ministry requires a lot of running around and this can easily lead to burnt-out and disillusionment. Furthermore, the lack of respect from church leaders and elsewhere, and inadequate financial remuneration due to the “junior” position perception, have led many youth workers to shorten their stay in the ministry.
She appealed for greater under-standing and support from church leaders for youth workers by, for example, giving more consideration for resource and finances, and training.
The consultation also agreed that churches must be intentional in identifying and developing future youth workers and gave some practical suggestions on how to effect this: parents can intentionally dedicate their children to serving God while the church leadership can intentionally challenge youths for missions; identify and set aside young people for ministry; and challenge them to tithe a tenth of their lifespan to youth ministry.
2) Developing relevant resources
The consultation agreed on the need to develop localised training manuals for youth groups. Presently, most of the materials available here are from the West.
3) Developing family ministry
The consultation agreed on the importance of the family institution in raising youth workers Home is God’s base to produce tomorrow’s workers and leaders, and there is a great need to ‘tie’ the youth ministry to the family.
Sadly, most youth groups currently function on their own. Hence, some of the areas that the Church needs to work towards are: Increasing parents’ understanding of adolescent develop-ment; encouraging communication between youths and parents; involving parents in the youth ministry rather than just ‘dumping’ their troubled teens on the youth workers and expecting the workers to straighten them out; and arranging counselling sessions for youth workers and parents.
Another speaker, Dr Leong Tien Fock, spoke on “Teaching Biblical Truth to Postmodern Youth” as one of the important ways to pass the baton of faith and leadership to the next generation.
The Research Director of Malaysia Campus Crusade of Christ said the postmodern youth’s attitudes towards truth and the medium of communication are very different from the present generation of churchgoers – they are more comfortable with images than words, more receptive to narratives (stories) than propositions (facts), and more dependent on feelings than reasoning.
In conclusion, Dr Tan challenged the participants to visualise the youth work as a “sunrise ministry raising the dry bones generation”. With churches and youth organisations working in partnership, the synergised network will turn the visual into reality.
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