For the first time in nearly 31 years Beth and I are living alone in our house. Cori is married and living with her husband and daughter in Mobile. Jeremy is married and living with his wife and two children in Colorado Springs. Trevor is living in Bangkok, and Kelly is married and living with her husband and son in Pensacola. Since Trevor left in June, we have officially become “empty nesters,” a title we have embraced with mixed emotions. Certainly, we now enjoy more time to ourselves, but we also miss the daily interactions, intrusions and intimacies that are a part of family life.
Now we are also enjoying the fruit of our investments – our children and their families. We value every time they come over to hang out, bringing our grandchildren with them. Trevor calls regularly from Thailand just to talk. The love they extend to us fills our souls. Their lives elicit in us almost unspeakable joy.
This joy, in essence, is the fruit of what Paul is talking about in 2 Timothy 2:2: Investing our lives in other people and replicating in them who we are and what we have learned. The rewards – of parenting, of mentoring, of nurturing and relationship building – are guaranteed when we do this work. Our faithfulness to invest in “Timothy” (whether actual or spiritual sons or daughters) is genuine discipleship and is the very soul of Christian work. It also pays the greatest rewards of all human experience.
Paul’s charge to Timothy – “What you have heard from me… commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2) – is perhaps one of the most profound sentences in scripture. In a single, simple statement, Paul defined how the church works – one person modeling knowledge and character to another, with profound consequences.
When we are good parents, our children admire us. As they grow, their admiration deepens and then they begin to inquire of us. As we continue to invest our time and attention into their lives, they embrace what we “teach” them and begin to aspire to be like us – to do what we have done, and even more! Then, as we release them to their adult lives, they marry, have children, and develop personal passion to inspire others.
Changing the world isn’t as difficult as we sometimes think. Parents and Christian leaders have incredible power – for good or for evil – to influence the people in their circle of care. The difficulty is that many of us are not consistently living this simple process. Too many people are not willing to invest in Timothy, or they do so with the wrong motives. Broken homes, broken promises, and disillusioned lives are a sad testimony to this fact.
But we can make a difference! No matter what spiritual gift mix you have, and no matter what failures may be a part of your testimony, you can start influencing people – by the way you follow Jesus and the time you spend with them. People today, young people especially, long for meaningful connection with others. They want a mentor who will guide them into growth and purpose. People aren’t just looking for the next exciting revival meeting or church program. Certainly, everyone needs these encounters with God too. But, people are looking for a person – a person to be Paul – to mentor them, to guide them, to show them – by personal example – the way to live.
You can be that person to someone right now! My charge to you is this: Invest in Timothy! There is a Timothy in your life right now. You know who this person is, or who these people are. Don’t fail them! Don’t let them down. Spend time with them and guide them into God’s future.
Invest time and genuine attentiveness in their lives – they will ADMIRE you.
Invest in them until they come to you for advice – they will INQUIRE of you.
Invest in them as a model of the way to live – they will ASPIRE to be like you.
Invest in them until they discover their own values – they will then INSPIRE others.
Raising our children to adulthood has taken Beth and me 31 years. It was time well spent and I have no regrets. I’m glad we made our marriage and family life work, even when it was tough. The kids alone were worth it.
In the verses following 2 Timothy 2:2 Paul writes about a soldier’s difficulties, an athlete’s commitment to rules, a farmer’s work ethic, and his own struggles and sufferings. In our hedonistic, self-serving contemporary culture, duty and obligation are grossly under-valued commodities. But they are essential for making disciples of Jesus, and Paul lived his life this way as an example to others.
Living life as an example to others is worth the investment – yes, even the personal pain – for the reward we receive in the end. That reward is measured, not by what we receive, but by the enrichment that comes to others. Soldiers die for this stuff. Farmers work for this stuff. Parents suffer for this stuff. Jesus gave His life for this stuff. And ministers and missionaries are called to do the same thing. Our rewards are lived vicariously through the people we have influenced for good.
Here’s to the Timothy’s in your life! Go and help them be men and women of God!
Doug
Monday, July 7, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
The Power and Importance of Church Planting
Are you Planting Churches?
The longer I serve in missions the more I am convinced that the single activity toward which all missionary work should lead is – CHURCH PLANTING! One mission leader said it this way: “Missions is church planting. Everything else is ministry.” In other words, missionaries plant churches. The people in those churches do the ongoing ministry in their communities.
Before we go on, let me clarify a few ideas.
Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” This is the one ministry activity Jesus guarantees will be successful!
Jesus commanded us to, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” Discipling and teaching happens most effectively in community groups - churches.
Paul planted churches wherever he went, and then through the years wrote letters to those churches with words of instruction and encouragement. From his writing we got much of the New Testament. The New Testament is a record of Jesus’ Great Commission being carried out – and we should follow the example.
The “local church” is a group of believers in Jesus Christ who are in a committed relationship with each other, who gather together regularly to worship, grow and serve each other, and who exist within their local community as a light to the world around them. We all need a group like this for our own needs – the same is true for every person on earth. Everyone needs a “family of God” place to belong and be loved, nurtured, to worship Jesus, and to be challenged to serve others.
The goal of mission, God’s mission, is to get His sent ones to start such assemblies of believers all over the world. Every activity we engage in – whether evangelism, teaching, prophecy, bible schools, radio programs, or humanitarian service – should intentionally and deliberately be engaged in accomplishing this goal.
I don’t think any of us disagree with the goal on principle. The problem we have is with getting our daily activities too truly contribute to this goal. It is easy, in the pressure of ministry demands, to lose sight of the goal and just be busy doing good (but not great) stuff.
So, how to stay on track? Ask yourself:
How do I measure “success” in ministry? Is it by the activity I love or is it by how my work contributes to God’s goal?
How can I improve faithfulness and obedience to God’s command to make disciples?
What could I change to start doing more fruitful work?
We all tend to fall in love with our favorite projects and activities. When that happens, we become vulnerable to reduced effectiveness and, frankly, disobedience to the Great Commission. WE SHOULD NOT BE IN LOVE WITH PROJECTS OR ACTIVITIES! We should be in love with the GOAL – which is helping people become followers of Jesus and planting them into churches where they can grow and take the Gospel to their nation! The projects, activities, methods, programs, and daily schedules we start and maintain should all serve THAT goal and should be regularly evaluated by their effectiveness.
Perhaps one of the most difficult kinds of ministry to apply indigenous church planting principles is in working with the desperately poor. The Bible has much to say about God’s love for the poor and helpless, and much more to say about showing mercy and providing safety and assistance. Sometimes we simply must love through humanitarian aid. However, church history demonstrates that such aid over time quickly erodes into co-dependent, disempowering forms that rob the recipients of their dignity. Therefore, aid program must simultaneously develop ways to empower the poor to take care of themselves and become followers of Jesus within their own communities.
My challenge to you in 2008 is this: Start planting churches!
If you are already planting a church, ask God how you can turn this one over to national leadership and plant another one. Ask God how you could plant 10 more!
If you are not a church planter or pastor, ask God how your spiritual gifts and ministry strengths can join hands with missionary or national church planters so you are contributing directly to this goal. Don’t just “do good in Jesus’ name.” Don’t just win souls to Jesus. Help establish them into permanent churches where believers – new ones and mature ones – can grow and serve!
Think big! If money were no object, how many churches do you think you could help plant in your ministry lifetime? I guarantee you, money is NOT the problem. God has plenty of money to give. The problem is that we must first get focused on the goal, and then think, pray, and work strategically towards it – before we can tap into God’s provision.
When we were in Sri Lanka, after we had planted the first 6-8 churches, we set as our goal to plant 50 churches in the next ten years. We had very little money, but we had a vision. We left before we had reached the goal – we only planted 33. But today over 70 churches, with more than 25,000 congregants, are meeting every Sunday in the hill country. The work continues to grow indigenously!
Here’s to many new churches, planted by Globe missionaries, in 2008!!!
The longer I serve in missions the more I am convinced that the single activity toward which all missionary work should lead is – CHURCH PLANTING! One mission leader said it this way: “Missions is church planting. Everything else is ministry.” In other words, missionaries plant churches. The people in those churches do the ongoing ministry in their communities.
Before we go on, let me clarify a few ideas.
Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” This is the one ministry activity Jesus guarantees will be successful!
Jesus commanded us to, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them…, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” Discipling and teaching happens most effectively in community groups - churches.
Paul planted churches wherever he went, and then through the years wrote letters to those churches with words of instruction and encouragement. From his writing we got much of the New Testament. The New Testament is a record of Jesus’ Great Commission being carried out – and we should follow the example.
The “local church” is a group of believers in Jesus Christ who are in a committed relationship with each other, who gather together regularly to worship, grow and serve each other, and who exist within their local community as a light to the world around them. We all need a group like this for our own needs – the same is true for every person on earth. Everyone needs a “family of God” place to belong and be loved, nurtured, to worship Jesus, and to be challenged to serve others.
The goal of mission, God’s mission, is to get His sent ones to start such assemblies of believers all over the world. Every activity we engage in – whether evangelism, teaching, prophecy, bible schools, radio programs, or humanitarian service – should intentionally and deliberately be engaged in accomplishing this goal.
I don’t think any of us disagree with the goal on principle. The problem we have is with getting our daily activities too truly contribute to this goal. It is easy, in the pressure of ministry demands, to lose sight of the goal and just be busy doing good (but not great) stuff.
So, how to stay on track? Ask yourself:
How do I measure “success” in ministry? Is it by the activity I love or is it by how my work contributes to God’s goal?
How can I improve faithfulness and obedience to God’s command to make disciples?
What could I change to start doing more fruitful work?
We all tend to fall in love with our favorite projects and activities. When that happens, we become vulnerable to reduced effectiveness and, frankly, disobedience to the Great Commission. WE SHOULD NOT BE IN LOVE WITH PROJECTS OR ACTIVITIES! We should be in love with the GOAL – which is helping people become followers of Jesus and planting them into churches where they can grow and take the Gospel to their nation! The projects, activities, methods, programs, and daily schedules we start and maintain should all serve THAT goal and should be regularly evaluated by their effectiveness.
Perhaps one of the most difficult kinds of ministry to apply indigenous church planting principles is in working with the desperately poor. The Bible has much to say about God’s love for the poor and helpless, and much more to say about showing mercy and providing safety and assistance. Sometimes we simply must love through humanitarian aid. However, church history demonstrates that such aid over time quickly erodes into co-dependent, disempowering forms that rob the recipients of their dignity. Therefore, aid program must simultaneously develop ways to empower the poor to take care of themselves and become followers of Jesus within their own communities.
My challenge to you in 2008 is this: Start planting churches!
If you are already planting a church, ask God how you can turn this one over to national leadership and plant another one. Ask God how you could plant 10 more!
If you are not a church planter or pastor, ask God how your spiritual gifts and ministry strengths can join hands with missionary or national church planters so you are contributing directly to this goal. Don’t just “do good in Jesus’ name.” Don’t just win souls to Jesus. Help establish them into permanent churches where believers – new ones and mature ones – can grow and serve!
Think big! If money were no object, how many churches do you think you could help plant in your ministry lifetime? I guarantee you, money is NOT the problem. God has plenty of money to give. The problem is that we must first get focused on the goal, and then think, pray, and work strategically towards it – before we can tap into God’s provision.
When we were in Sri Lanka, after we had planted the first 6-8 churches, we set as our goal to plant 50 churches in the next ten years. We had very little money, but we had a vision. We left before we had reached the goal – we only planted 33. But today over 70 churches, with more than 25,000 congregants, are meeting every Sunday in the hill country. The work continues to grow indigenously!
Here’s to many new churches, planted by Globe missionaries, in 2008!!!
Thursday, November 29, 2007
The Power, Passion, and Potential of a Young Person
I made my first overseas trip – to Central America – when I was 18. I was 21 when I first went to Asia. At 24 my wife, our daughter and I, moved to Taiwan for our first two-year term of missionary service. At 28, I started AsiaNet Ministries. By the time I was 35 my family and I had traveled in over 20 nations, helped plant 25 churches in Sri Lanka, and were leading a team that included seven missionary families.
Today, at 52, I sometimes reminisce about those years and can’t believe I had so much energy and got so much done! I also remember the passion and almost endless self-sacrificing vision of my youth.
Every generation produces new young people. From these youth new sources of energy, passion and vision are bestowed on the world. And, the older generation that spawned them, who are now slowing down, must come to terms with their zeal, their hope, their innocence, and their potential.
If you are over 40, you probably have begun to forget some of the power of being young. You have lost much of your youthful passion. Your energy levels are lower. Your vision is more “refined” which definitely includes maturity and wisdom, but it might also mean it is more cynical or cautious. It is certainly more realistic. Your passion is more compromised, meaning you now balance sold-out service for self-serving interests and life obligations. You now think about retirement, not just winning the world for Jesus. You look back with regret as often as you look forward with hope.
Youth aren’t encumbered with such conflicts of interest. Their life is ahead of them, and they are ready to live. In the words of Saturday Night Live character Matt Foley, young people want to “grab life by the tail, pull it down, tie it in a knot and put it into your pocket.” They are willing to make big sacrifices for what they believe. They don’t have much experience, and they lack knowledge, but they want to change the world.
Young people also don’t know what many older folks now believe, that – again in the acrid words of Matt Foley – they probably “won’t amount to Jack Squat.”
Cynical, yes. But too often the sentiments of the older toward the younger.
David accomplished his most famous deed when he was a teenager. By himself, despite his elder brothers’ scorn and the army’s mass cowardice, he confronted Goliath and killed him with a stone and a sling. King Saul had offered a huge reward – money and his daughter – to the man who killed the giant. David, however, didn’t fight Goliath for money. He did it for an ideal. He loved God and His people and would not stand idly by while both were mocked by a tyrant. David’s faith, borne on the wings of youthful zeal, killed a giant and inspired a nation.
Everyone who knows me knows how much I love surfing. People joke about Doug Gehman’s passion for surfing. In the 1960s, when I was a teenager, surfing became one of the icons of a generation who were turning their backs on “The Establishment” and the greed and war it had come to symbolize. A whole generation – hippies, flower children, surfers, run-aways and rebels “turned on, tuned in, and dropped out.” Our parents did not know what to do with us. We marched against Vietnam. We stood up against big money. We quit college and got stoned. We rioted and protested on college campuses across the nation. It was a messy time in America. Yet, out of that cultural conundrum God brought forth the Jesus People. I became one of them in 1973, at “Jesus ‘73”, the first big Christian youth rally for our times. 15,000 young people gathered on a Pennsylvania farm for three days of music and Christian ministry. I gave my life to Christ at that rally.
There were no churches for us in those days. Not a single youth-focused church existed in my home area. In the early 70’s one Presbyterian pastor started a Saturday night meeting for young people. It drew hundreds of high school and college kids. When I went to college in Indiana, there were only two churches in the county that centered around marginal youth. I joined one of them, Zion Chapel. I grew up in the Lord in that church. I met my wife there, got married there, and got sent to the mission field from that church.
On the other side of the nation, in Costa Mesa, California, Pastor Chuck Smith started welcoming hippies into his church – the first Calvary Chapel. In Pensacola, Florida Pastor Ken Sumrall began reaching out to young people, loving them into the Kingdom. Liberty Bible College and Globe Missionary Evangelism were born from that love, and from Brother Ken’s belief that youth would change the world for Jesus Christ.
Many of these churches and ministries still thrive today. Many are now huge and are still growing. Others have become stale, middle-aged, and almost irrelevant to this generation. But, their legacy is profound. God moved on young people, and a few leaders said yes to God and loved them, trained them, and turned them loose on the world. Many of Globe’s senior missionaries are the fruit of that time.
Fast forward to the summer of 2005. In July that year, I attended the Christian Surfers National Conference in Honolulu. At that conference a young man named Mike Doyle spoke about a new ministry called Walking On Water. Walking On Water was making Christian surf films. As Outreach Director, Mike had helped bring the message of Jesus Christ, through the sport of surfing, to thousands of young people all over the world. In a few years Walking On Water had touched over 85,000 young people in 15 nations! It was an amazing story of youthful faith, vision and passion for Jesus Christ. I was mesmerized by Mike’s testimony, delivered (you gotta know Mike) in his modest, matter-of-fact conversational style.
After the session I introduced myself to Mike saying, “You and I have got to talk. I would like to partner with Walking On Water to do an outreach with Globe.” That conversation led to the Scotland outreach with Bob and Melissa Hill, and the starting of “Deeper,” a skate outreach church for young people in Dumbarton. Over 120 kids attend every week. Deeper is now one of the biggest youth ministries in Scotland.
This past summer, we did a second outreach with Walking On Water in Bielefeld, Germany. One of the couples on Brad Thurston’s team, Johannes and Esther Baumann, are now planting a new skate church in Bielefeld. My hope and expectation is that within a year or two we will be hearing similar reports.
Another young man, Ian Skelley, is helping Globe make cutting edge television programs that feature our missionaries’ ministries. Ian has already done three – in Cost Rica, Scotland, and Nicaragua – and three more are planned for this fall. Ian is willing to travel anywhere in the world. We just give him a plane ticket and he’ll go and make a missionary film and tell a missionary story. Ian’s work is featured on the “All Over the World” television program.
A steady stream of young people are coming to Globe to talk about missions. They are signing up for intern assignments, outreaches, Boot Camp, and our Institute for Global Ministry. I am continually amazed at their willingness to give their lives, and make huge sacrifices, for what they believe is a noble cause – to reach the world for Jesus Christ. And we are retooling everything we do to connect with and serve them.
I want to challenge you. If you are over the age of 40, take some time to reconnect with the journey you began with Jesus as a young person. And find a way to get involved with young people. Look around! Thousands of young people today need the love, the encouragement, the guidance, and the wisdom you can provide. It doesn’t matter if they are from Indiana or India, from Pensacola or Peru, they are ready to be radical and will follow Jesus to the ends of the earth if we can inspire them with who He really is.
You MUST be willing to make some changes in your life to get their attention and earn their respect. They can spot a phony a mile away. You must become youthful at heart and allow God to give you a genuine love for young people. In my case, it was (and still is) important that I know how to ride a surf board. Surfing buys me respect. I surf because I love it, but I need to be a surfer to keep me connected to youth culture.
Young people today are a distinct people group – with their own language, dress code, worldview, and culture. To reach them we must get on the inside. Just like any cross-cultural work, reaching young people requires a missionary mind. But, there are incredible dividends for reaching this generation. In them and through them is the power complete the greatest mission in history!
Today, at 52, I sometimes reminisce about those years and can’t believe I had so much energy and got so much done! I also remember the passion and almost endless self-sacrificing vision of my youth.
Every generation produces new young people. From these youth new sources of energy, passion and vision are bestowed on the world. And, the older generation that spawned them, who are now slowing down, must come to terms with their zeal, their hope, their innocence, and their potential.
If you are over 40, you probably have begun to forget some of the power of being young. You have lost much of your youthful passion. Your energy levels are lower. Your vision is more “refined” which definitely includes maturity and wisdom, but it might also mean it is more cynical or cautious. It is certainly more realistic. Your passion is more compromised, meaning you now balance sold-out service for self-serving interests and life obligations. You now think about retirement, not just winning the world for Jesus. You look back with regret as often as you look forward with hope.
Youth aren’t encumbered with such conflicts of interest. Their life is ahead of them, and they are ready to live. In the words of Saturday Night Live character Matt Foley, young people want to “grab life by the tail, pull it down, tie it in a knot and put it into your pocket.” They are willing to make big sacrifices for what they believe. They don’t have much experience, and they lack knowledge, but they want to change the world.
Young people also don’t know what many older folks now believe, that – again in the acrid words of Matt Foley – they probably “won’t amount to Jack Squat.”
Cynical, yes. But too often the sentiments of the older toward the younger.
David accomplished his most famous deed when he was a teenager. By himself, despite his elder brothers’ scorn and the army’s mass cowardice, he confronted Goliath and killed him with a stone and a sling. King Saul had offered a huge reward – money and his daughter – to the man who killed the giant. David, however, didn’t fight Goliath for money. He did it for an ideal. He loved God and His people and would not stand idly by while both were mocked by a tyrant. David’s faith, borne on the wings of youthful zeal, killed a giant and inspired a nation.
Everyone who knows me knows how much I love surfing. People joke about Doug Gehman’s passion for surfing. In the 1960s, when I was a teenager, surfing became one of the icons of a generation who were turning their backs on “The Establishment” and the greed and war it had come to symbolize. A whole generation – hippies, flower children, surfers, run-aways and rebels “turned on, tuned in, and dropped out.” Our parents did not know what to do with us. We marched against Vietnam. We stood up against big money. We quit college and got stoned. We rioted and protested on college campuses across the nation. It was a messy time in America. Yet, out of that cultural conundrum God brought forth the Jesus People. I became one of them in 1973, at “Jesus ‘73”, the first big Christian youth rally for our times. 15,000 young people gathered on a Pennsylvania farm for three days of music and Christian ministry. I gave my life to Christ at that rally.
There were no churches for us in those days. Not a single youth-focused church existed in my home area. In the early 70’s one Presbyterian pastor started a Saturday night meeting for young people. It drew hundreds of high school and college kids. When I went to college in Indiana, there were only two churches in the county that centered around marginal youth. I joined one of them, Zion Chapel. I grew up in the Lord in that church. I met my wife there, got married there, and got sent to the mission field from that church.
On the other side of the nation, in Costa Mesa, California, Pastor Chuck Smith started welcoming hippies into his church – the first Calvary Chapel. In Pensacola, Florida Pastor Ken Sumrall began reaching out to young people, loving them into the Kingdom. Liberty Bible College and Globe Missionary Evangelism were born from that love, and from Brother Ken’s belief that youth would change the world for Jesus Christ.
Many of these churches and ministries still thrive today. Many are now huge and are still growing. Others have become stale, middle-aged, and almost irrelevant to this generation. But, their legacy is profound. God moved on young people, and a few leaders said yes to God and loved them, trained them, and turned them loose on the world. Many of Globe’s senior missionaries are the fruit of that time.
Fast forward to the summer of 2005. In July that year, I attended the Christian Surfers National Conference in Honolulu. At that conference a young man named Mike Doyle spoke about a new ministry called Walking On Water. Walking On Water was making Christian surf films. As Outreach Director, Mike had helped bring the message of Jesus Christ, through the sport of surfing, to thousands of young people all over the world. In a few years Walking On Water had touched over 85,000 young people in 15 nations! It was an amazing story of youthful faith, vision and passion for Jesus Christ. I was mesmerized by Mike’s testimony, delivered (you gotta know Mike) in his modest, matter-of-fact conversational style.
After the session I introduced myself to Mike saying, “You and I have got to talk. I would like to partner with Walking On Water to do an outreach with Globe.” That conversation led to the Scotland outreach with Bob and Melissa Hill, and the starting of “Deeper,” a skate outreach church for young people in Dumbarton. Over 120 kids attend every week. Deeper is now one of the biggest youth ministries in Scotland.
This past summer, we did a second outreach with Walking On Water in Bielefeld, Germany. One of the couples on Brad Thurston’s team, Johannes and Esther Baumann, are now planting a new skate church in Bielefeld. My hope and expectation is that within a year or two we will be hearing similar reports.
Another young man, Ian Skelley, is helping Globe make cutting edge television programs that feature our missionaries’ ministries. Ian has already done three – in Cost Rica, Scotland, and Nicaragua – and three more are planned for this fall. Ian is willing to travel anywhere in the world. We just give him a plane ticket and he’ll go and make a missionary film and tell a missionary story. Ian’s work is featured on the “All Over the World” television program.
A steady stream of young people are coming to Globe to talk about missions. They are signing up for intern assignments, outreaches, Boot Camp, and our Institute for Global Ministry. I am continually amazed at their willingness to give their lives, and make huge sacrifices, for what they believe is a noble cause – to reach the world for Jesus Christ. And we are retooling everything we do to connect with and serve them.
I want to challenge you. If you are over the age of 40, take some time to reconnect with the journey you began with Jesus as a young person. And find a way to get involved with young people. Look around! Thousands of young people today need the love, the encouragement, the guidance, and the wisdom you can provide. It doesn’t matter if they are from Indiana or India, from Pensacola or Peru, they are ready to be radical and will follow Jesus to the ends of the earth if we can inspire them with who He really is.
You MUST be willing to make some changes in your life to get their attention and earn their respect. They can spot a phony a mile away. You must become youthful at heart and allow God to give you a genuine love for young people. In my case, it was (and still is) important that I know how to ride a surf board. Surfing buys me respect. I surf because I love it, but I need to be a surfer to keep me connected to youth culture.
Young people today are a distinct people group – with their own language, dress code, worldview, and culture. To reach them we must get on the inside. Just like any cross-cultural work, reaching young people requires a missionary mind. But, there are incredible dividends for reaching this generation. In them and through them is the power complete the greatest mission in history!
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