Expanding the Vision

The Importance of Transitioning Teens Into the Local Church

Article Photo The importance of the local church is close to my own heart. This is because my parents came to accept faith in Jesus Christ through a pastor at a small local church. He not only led them to knowledge of Christ, he also followed up with them to help them establish depth in their newfound faith. This pastor's belief in my parents was consistent, and he readily gave them opportunities to minister to teens.

A couple years after they started their faith journey with Christ, my folks founded Youth Dynamics with the intent to share their passion for Christ with unchurched teens. Over the years, we've discovered that the church's role in sustaining a new-believing student's faith is vital.

It's a challenge for us inside the church to reach out to these students. Often, new-believing teens still have rough edges. They don't look or act like a typical church kid, and they can make us uncomfortable. Many new-believing teens struggle with trusting the church and feeling at home there. They do not know how to act during a service, and they struggle to break into the tight social circle of a youth group. How you and I engage them when we see them at church is so important. Do we move towards them with grace and understanding?

Youth Dynamics is not a church, nor do we want to be. It is the church who has the ability to support and disciple believers throughout their whole lives. Thus, we seek to work together with the church to transition students from new faith to lifelong faith. This value is ingrained in our mission: "to invite and challenge youth to a lifelong journey in relationship with Christ and His church."

Please pray with us that we will continue to grow together as a unified body, seeking to impact students together for lifelong change!

- By Mark Evans