Pastor Chan Theam Lai, Canning Garden Baptist Church
This consultation revealed the concern by many in the churches that the youth issues must be addressed, yet there is a struggle to communicate the urgency of these issues with the leaders.
The consensus is that the leaders’ support and understanding for the ministry – in terms of budget, personnel and strategy – are instrumental to enhance the effectiveness of youth workers in the church.
Rev. Sivin Kit, Bangsar Lutheran Church
All the plenary sessions provided useful frameworks to get our minds on the same track. Frequently, we were challenged with the immensity of the task before us and the importance of not just thinking out of the box, but also the need to think “intentionally” and “integratively”, relating youth ministry concerns with family, church leadership and social-cultural changes.
My prayer is that leaders in Malaysian churches will see the complexity and interconnectedness of the issues at hand and give full support to this kind of endeavour.
Major Andy Lim, Salvation Army Youth Department Territorial Youth and Candidates Secretary
This consultation has opened my eyes to what’s happening in the Malaysian churches, what our youths are like, why we need to stay the course in youth ministry and how we actually share a common privilege and challenge in working with our youths. This time together also reinforced the need for us to partner one another as we face this complex generation.
Elder William Chang, Elim Gospel Hall, Ipoh
From this consultation, I have seen the need to bring back families into youth work. Many youth workers have isolated their work and ministry from the youth’s families. The Bible clearly says it is the role of the parents to teach their young ones and bring them up in godly ways. The youth workers only come in to assist.
Goh Kim Guat, Trinity Methodist Conference
This consultation helped to forge that unity of purpose in serving God in this ministry and the sense that God is indeed moving in marvellous ways in youths in the local churches as well as in the national church as a whole. At the end of the consultation, key issues and areas of concern were identified that the Malaysian Church must begin to take if we want the youth ministry in this country to deepen and grow.
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