Youth

Some years ago, missiologists coined the term "The 10/40 Window", meaning the geographical area between the 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator. "Most of the people groups not yet reached by the Gospel live in this area," they said. "For us," says Campus Church Networks (CCN), a mostly student-led church-planting movement on universities, "the 13/30 Window is central. It is the 13- to 30-year-old age range, the largest spiritual harvest field in the world for the following reasons:

1. People in this age range are most open for the Gospel
2. This is a decisive group, because they are the future of both the Church and the world. If you can reach the youth (for example, in educational establishments such as universities), you influence the form of future Christianity - and the world. UN figures show that
   • 60% of the world population is under 24 years old
   • 30% (1.7 billion) are between 10 and 24 years old

Statistical research has shown that 90% of all Christians decided to follow Christ before they were 25 years old (source: Barna Research).

The following reports from CCN show how a church can be planted:

"Last week, we experienced a breakthrough on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Campus," writes Jaeson Ma, CCN Director. "One of our teams went to establish a beachhead on campus through 'prophetic worship and apostolic preaching'. One of our members reports:

Seeing with spiritual eyes
This past Wednesday at UCLA we experienced a taste of heaven on earth, but it came with a cost. As we walked up onto campus there were thousands of students walking up and down Bruin Walk. Normally, we would sit at the patch of grass where there were not many onlookers (free speech area), but on Wednesday the main steps at the top of Bruin Walk were open - we took it by faith. As we sat on the steps we began to pray. It was difficult to pray, the enemy immediately began to intimidate us with fear and self-consciousness. We could sense the spiritual darkness right there in the middle of campus opposing our prayers. It was almost like we could hear the Devil say, "Come on, what are you going to do? Worship in the middle of campus? With your little guitars and make a fool out of yourself? Don't you know I own this campus?" On the outside these UCLA students all have the status, the image, the self-confidence, the cool look cool. Then I heard the spirit of the Lord shout to my spirit, "Stop looking with your physical eyes. Look with your spiritual eyes! They are all lost, dying and headed towards eternal separation from God!"

Grace instead of routine preaching
Has not God made the wisdom of this world foolishness, and doesn't he use apparently foolish things to confound the wise? So we stood there worshipping God, not so that the students would hear us, but so that God would hear us. It was difficult. We were distracted by all sorts of thoughts, and one of us felt sick. Despite that, we sang for two hours, until we sensed that the time had come to preach. No matter how many times you have preached in front of masses of non-believers, you never get used to it. You can never preach from an inner confidence. It's not a routine Sunday sermon; it's for people who are prepared to lose their own reputation and rely completely on God. I almost wet myself when I looked at the number of students walking past. I would have liked to run away and hide. Instead, I shut my eyes, asked God for his grace, jumped into the middle of the steps and started preaching as loud as I could.

If there is...
My voice threatened to fail me, but I sensed that God was there. More and more students stopped to listen - a group here, a group of Asian students there, another group of African American students who had been listening to music from their boom boxes only moments before. They all listened as I preached the Gospel; at least 120 students, for almost half an hour. It was as though God miraculously amplified my voice. People told me later that they had heard me on the second floor (for US readers, the third floor), even though I was speaking without a microphone. When I called them to repent and turn to God, many prayed with me, and at least half a dozen raised their hands. We spoke one-on-one with the students who had shown interest. One Hindu told me "I am jealous of what you have! I want it, but I don't know how to get it!" One black student was really angry, and shouted at us, "You're just full of sh..!" He said that Christians cannot be trusted, and that he was now a servant of the Devil. I prayed "Holy Spirit, please give me the wisdom to answer this man." When I asked him for forgiveness, for myself and other Christians, he replied "I have no answer for that one," and almost started to cry. His countenance changed, and we prayed for him. Finally, he said "I don't know what's so different about you. I'm the only one in my family who is not a Christian, but if there is one church I'll go to, it's the one you go to!" The stories go on and on, but we know: the battle has just begun. Now we must press on!"

Source: Jaeson Ma and Campus Church Networks

A Christian camp called "The Levites' camp" was held near Winterthur, Switzerland, at the end of July 2005. One of the speakers was Matthias Kuhn, better known as Kuno, a young evangelist and house church planter from Thun, Switzerland. This Friday Fax is an extract of journalist Peter Schmid's recording of his talk about reconciled generations.

The next generation
"We often hear prophetic words that it will be the coming generation, or the next generation, that will bring the breakthrough. In the passion rising among youth in the past few years, I also sense a pain. A pain, because I really do not believe that the coming generation will bring the breakthrough. I believe that only Jesus brings the breakthrough. Jesus does not glorify himself just through one generation, but through people uniting and joining in community, people in true relationship. A relationship and unity between the generations is definitely a part of that.

A key
I believe that Malachi 4:6, the last verse of the Old Testament, is immensely important for our days. God says that he will again turn the hearts of the fathers to their sons and mothers to their daughters, to protect the nation from a curse.

Holding hands
Friends, I don't believe that the next generation will reach our continent with the gospel, but I do believe that the blessing we so greatly desire will come when we humbly submit to one another and hold each others' hands. I believe that the glory of the Lord will break through when the younger generation takes their place in the line down from their elders and honours them.

The great lie
We have believed a great humanist lie: we believe that we only become mature by making ourselves independent. That is not true. The truth is that the true quality of God's Kingdom (Eph. 4:16) can only break through when we make ourselves dependent on one another. The word 'dependent' often gives us the shivers - myself included.

Leader, or father?
We have given the word 'dependent' a wrong meaning, understanding dependence on people exercising leadership, not fatherhood or motherhood. I do not believe that we should be dependent on leaders, but I do believe that we should depend on fathers and mothers. A leader desires to see the next generation continue his ministry; fathers, that the next generation comes with power.

A call to the younger generation
To the younger generation I say, if we do not return to the hearts of our fathers and mothers, there may be a few more stories and a few more books about us at the end of our lives, but the Kingdom of God will not break through in a new quality. We desperately need to return to the place of dependence on our fathers and mothers. For years, I thought that I and my generation would bring radical commitment. I made myself independent from my parents. Only recently, after preaching about it many times, did I realise that I have to put it into practice.

Honouring our fathers
I have wonderful parents. I called my father and said "I want to have a day of retreat with you". I wanted that once before, but I was also glad that he did not respond. Now I knew that the time had come. I had to again give my father his mandate to be my father. We sat together in silence. I knew inside that I had to lay down all my rebellion, pride, and the thought that my generation is the one, and say "Father, I need you."

Walking together
Fathers and mothers, my appeal to you is not to believe that we do not need you. Don't believe we don't need you just because you don't know what an MP3 is. We need you desperately, not in order to use you to become something better, but because we know that the Kingdom of God can only come in quality when we walk together. We have four children; I am my son's father and trainer. My son plays handball, as I used to. When I'm sitting on the trainer's bench, my son does not need a trainer, but a father. One day, he was not doing well. He was playing in a tournament, shooting again and again - and missing every time. I called him over and told him to pull his socks up, get his game in order. The trainer had spoken. He went back out and shot again - and missed. "I don't believe it!" I thought.

Trust and encourage
Then God spoke to me, saying "Timo doesn't need a trainer, he needs a father." I went to him, and knew: correcting him is not the right thing to do now. I think that is the pain keeping the generations apart in our hearts; we have been very good at criticising each other, telling each other where our place is. Friends, living in reconciliation means trusting one another. I told my son, "Timo, I trust you and believe in you." That also happened in the story of Elijah and Elisha. It is the key to God's Kingdom coming in a new quality in our nation.

Where God's beauty shines
If there is one thing I desire, it is that God reveals the beauty of mothers and fathers going forward in unity with their children, their hearts turned to one another. The time is ripe for a reformation in my heart. Let me no longer seek that which serves me and my generation, and how to become more radical, but how we as a young generation can seek to honour our fathers and mothers. That doesn't start up here on the stage, but in our own homes. I wish us courage.

Source: Peter Schmid.

"There was once a card saying 'Most Christians would rather die than think', but thoughtless repetition of Christian ethics and doctrines doesn't make you a Christian," says Joe Riffe, member of staff of the young 24-7 Prayer movement started by Pete Greig five years ago. In that short time, the movement, which started with only a single prayer room, has become a many-faceted movement for mission and social justice, with related movements in 58 nations. "Inside and outside this movement, a new generation of leaders is currently taking shape," writes Riffe. "They are seeking humble, creative and relational expressions of Christian ministry. That's were 24-7transit comes in, teaching these people how to live well and hence lead well. We accompany them on the two most exciting journeys: the inward journey, which leads to spiritual transformation, and the outward journey, which leads to social transformation."

Young leaders in the monastery

Move in to a 'boiler room' in Britain or the USA and spend 8 months in a monastic community, living a life of prayer, study and action? 24-7 is convinced that the time has come for such a discipleship training programme. They are offering the training starting in September 2005, focussing on building a "Biblical world view". "Our world view forms the way in which we see society. However, a world view is not simply the filter through which we see the world, but our philosophy of life, including the answer to the question 'Why am I alive?' Our world view also has a strong influence on how we see Christianity. When Mark 12 tells us to love the Lord with our whole mind, we need to know what we believe, and understand the world which God made. We aim to build three things: authentic spirituality - truth in our relationship with Jesus ("Love the Lord with all your heart", Luke 10:27); relational spirituality - lovingness to others ("Love your neighbour as yourself", Luke 10:27) and missionary spirituality - take the Gospel to the world ("Make disciples of all nations", Matthew 28:19)" says Riffe. "As Jon Stuart Mill said, one person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who only have interest."

Source: 24-7prayer.com

"On Sunday, 24^th April 2005, we sent out a small army of "Mystery Worshippers" into London's churches. These holy spies reconnoitred 70 services in the English capital, checking how hard the pews are, the length and quality of the sermon, strength of the coffee and warmth of the greeting. Many of our readers are dedicated pew warmers, and were excited to accept the challenge," says Simon Jenkins, editor of shipoffools.com, the Christian internet news site behind the project. Each of the mysterious spies left a card depicting a lone masked rider – the only sign for the churches that they had been examined by the service testers. The results were published on 10^th May. Here's a selection of what London's churches have to offer, compiled by Assist News Service's Michael Ireland:

• rhythmic snoring during the (silent?) prayer time;
• four old women on the back pew, criticising the pastor;
• an immediate invitation to join the choir;
• passionate singing of the Vatican national hymn;
• "We'll be back in a moment" – a service with a commercial break;
• a barking dog, accompanying the sermon for a full 52 minutes;
• a 2½-hour service, with a sermon by a (female) preacher who spoke for a long time, said nothing and finally collapsed of excitement (or exhaustion?);
• being discovered in a Puritan church and escorted out;
• no coffee – but Champagne!
• fleeing made impossible by pews which close automatically once you're seated;
• in one church, visitors were greeted by attractive young women;
• a Catholic church which didn't even mention the new Pope;
• a church which welcomed the 'spy' so intensely and successfully that he was the last one to leave…

Do you want to know more? www.shipoffools.com has the full reports.

Source: Simon Jenkins, Steve Goddard, publisher of www.shipoffools.com