7 Reasons Your Teenagers Aren’t Sharing Their Faith More Often

1. Because you’re doing it for them.

Think "outreach" in youth ministry and we automatically think "event." The words go together like "dodge" and "ball". The challenge is that our teenagers themselves are our biggest outreach "event". Because the average teenager has around 400 online and face-to-face friends they must be inspired, equipped and unleashed to engage them in Gospel conversations. Think about that for a moment, the average teenager has more friends than the average youth room can hold! But we have an almost irrepressible appetite for doing outreach events instead of mobilizing our teenagers to be the outreach event. To make the switch we must turn from quarterbacks to coaches. Instead of just "Hey kids bring your friends out and watch me throw the touchdown throw of salvation in their lives" we must equip them to bring the "J" word up with their own peers. Of course, outreach events are fine and good and needed from time to time. But if they are replacing, rather than enhancing, our teenagers’ personal evangelism efforts then they are limiting our true outreach effectiveness. Read more

See also
Life in Six Words Curriculum Preview (Session 1)

The seven reasons that Greg Stiers gives for teenagers not sharing their faith more often also apply to adults. For example, church leaders are not inspiring, equipping, and unleashing them to engage their colleagues, coworkers, fellow students, friends, and relatives in Gospel conversations. Rather church leaders, like the pastor of the church that I am attending,  are telling adults to bring these individuals to church meetings and they will evangelize these individuals for them.

Photo: Dare2Share