This is the last blog in my role as Principal of Youthworks College. After thirteen-and-a-half years I am still as convinced as ever of the strategic value of children’s and youth ministry. And the most recent statistics back that claim.

One of my final tasks before finishing has been to receive a report from the Anglicare Research unit on a series of questions Youthworks commissioned in the 2011 National Church Life Survey*.

Once again the statistics show how significant the childhood and teenage years are for making commitments to Jesus. According to the 2011 NCLS 76% of Sydney Anglicans became Christians before the age of 20, and 44% did so during their teenage years (10-19). The same picture has been evident in the previous surveys from 2006 and 2001.

Until now these numbers could have been dismissed as just reflecting Christian kids from Christian families coming to own their faith for the first time. Even if that was the case, it’s hardly something to be dismissive of. How good is it that churches are working effectively with parents in the joy and responsibility of raising their children to love and serve the Lord!

The other problem with dismissing children’s and youth ministry as only ministering to Christian families is that it just isn’t true. And thanks to the 2011 NCLS, what youth ministers knew from experience has been confirmed in the statistics.

The most recent survey included a new question that asked church attenders about their parents’ commitment to Christianity at the time of their own conversion. For people who became Christians between the ages of 15-19 years, only 25% of them report that both their parents were Christians at the time of their conversion. There are another 18% where one parent was a committed Christian. That leaves 57% of people who became Christians between the ages of 15-19 who were from nominal or non-Christian families.

These are people like Kai from Seaforth (Yr8), Samantha from Campbelltown (Yr10), and Josh from Broadway (Yr12). Alll from nominally Christian homes and have come to faith in the past 3-6 months.

The Anglicare research team concludes, "this suggests that youth ministry could -- and should -- play a pivotal role in bringing children from a range of family backgrounds to Christ" (Bellamy et.al. 2013, p.24).

We are already seeing young people and their families come to faith as a result of the children’s and youth ministry in our churches. But our resources are far from spent and new opportunities are still waiting to be taken hold of. How much more could be achieved with a renewed commitment to education and training for youth ministry?

It has been an immense privilege to have shared in the training and formation of so many exceptionally able emerging leaders through my time at Youthworks. From the opening year of the College when sixteen brave (perhaps foolhardy!) souls turned up to a half-completed campus at Loftus, each year has seen men and women trained, equipped, enabled and energised for the ministry of the gospel among children and young people that the Lord of the harvest has called them to.

For me, the great joy of being in this role for such a long time has been seeing the way our graduates have continued to grow in their wisdom and service over the years. Many have grown as they have continued on the pathway of theological education they began at Youthworks. Our graduates have not only gone on to complete degree and post-graduate study, but have excelled in the task, bringing a depth of ministry wisdom that integrates experience with biblical and theological studies.

And many have grown simply with the passing of time. Some who came to College as adolescents themselves have grown into young adults, and are even approaching middle-age! Carefree students who were beginning to recognise the need for boundaries and learning how to use a diary have become heads of households and leaders of teams. I am grateful to God for all those senior leaders who ‘took a punt on a punk’: who encouraged these fine leaders to train for ministry, and supported these leaders as they developed their ministry. I am grateful to God for the way these leaders gave themselves to all that College offered: who learnt how to think, learnt how to learn; who grew in self-awareness, and developed skill in critical reflection. I am grateful to God for the privilege of sharing in that journey.

Of course Youthworks College is not the only source of trained children’s and youth ministers in the Diocese. It has been wonderful seeing the relationships and ministry partnerships that have developed among men and women working in this ministry whether they have trained at Youthworks, Moore College, SMBC or elsewhere. I am grateful to God for the joy of serving together.

I hope we are aware of the extraordinary gift we have received from God in the children’s and youth ministry workforce of the Diocese. We have been richly blessed with dedicated, competent and ‘professional’ evangelists, pastors and teachers among children and young people serving in churches and schools. More than 80 youth ministers gathered earlier in the year at Youthworks’ Thetacon, theology of youth ministry conference. The depth of biblical theological reflection of the delegates was world class. In the same way, just this past week, 35 children’s ministers gathered for Teknacon, the Theology of children’s ministry conference, where we wrestled with the doctrine of Scripture and the role of the imagination in how we guide children in engaging with and responding to God through the Bible.

These people are not lightweights. They are not child-minders or social coordinators. They are not merely beginners looking to graduate to a more serious ministry in the future. They are not renegades looking to subvert the church. They are biblically-grounded, theologically-sophisticated, missionally-engaged, culturally-relevant and developmentally-appropriate ministers of the gospel. They are worthy of honour for their work.

We have seen a huge increase over the past decade in the number of well-trained gospel minsters, dedicated to medium- to long-term service among children and young people. Yet, at the same time that this ministry-force has grown in number and depth of specialisation, the needs and opportunities for ministry have grown in number and variety. There continue to be ministry needs in Sydney, throughout Australia and overseas that are going unanswered due to lack of personnel and lack of funds.
Is there someone today that you can encourage to investigate a life-time of ministry as an evangelist among children and youth? Help them test their gifting and call through the Diploma of Theology and Ministry program at Youthworks College. If their suitability for long-term leadership is clear then why not urge them to specialise in children’s and youth ministry? Encourage them to follow in the footsteps of many established children’s and youth ministers in the Diocese: to lay the foundations of integrating theology with ministry practice at Youthworks, and then go on to complete further theological education with a clear focus on serving children and teenagers.

Or perhaps you are already trained in ministry: why not re-train to specialise in ministry among the young? Get involved in an elective unit at Youthworks, or use the opportunity for a research project in your BD or MA to pursue some of the intricacies of serving children and teenagers with the gospel. Get along to Thetacon or Teknacon and join in the conversation.

This is not for the faint-hearted. We need people with intellect and creativity: people who are able to bridge cultural divides as well as navigate the complexity of developmental needs. May it not be that we lack the vision to continue to invest in this ministry.
The children and young people of our city and nation need more people, suitably gifted, appropriately equipped and adequately resourced, to offer themselves for this service. Who will go? Who will you encourage into this service?

Martin Luther said, ‘There is no greater obstacle in the way of Christianity than neglect in the training of the young. If we would re-instate Christianity in its former glory, we must improve and elevate the children, as it was done in the days of old.’
The writer of Psalm 78 said, ‘I will declare wise sayings; I will speak mysteries from the past—things we have heard and known and that our fathers have passed down to us.  We must not hide them from their children, but must tell a future generation the praises of the LORD, His might, and the wonderful works He has performed.’

May it also be true of our generation. By God’s grace, and for his glory.

*John Bellamy, Sami Iohara, Tiffany Bodiam and Byron Kemp (2013). Becoming a Christian: A report from the 2011 National Church Life Survey for the Anglican Diocese of Sydney (Prepared for Anglican Youthworks). Sydney: Anglicare Social Policy and Research Unit.