The Relevance of Ministry to Teens to Church Growth
Chapter One
Objective of the Study
Teens ministry has to do with focusing on these set of people who are transiting from childhood to adolescence. This study aims at, reaching out to them and catching them young for God. Therefore this study aims at:
- Defining and analysis the concept of teenager’s ministry
- Showing how understanding the teenager can aid church growth
- Presenting the problems of establishing teen’s church or having Teens Ministry.
- Reviewing the biblical perspective of Teenage age.
- Assessing the relevance or impact of Teens ministry on the growth of church
- Suggesting solutions to challenges of leaders in Teens ministry.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
The Role of Youth in Today’s Church
Investing in today’s youth is necessary in growing the body of Christ. Teaching young people in the church to grow in their relationship with the Lord prepares them to serve Christ in all they do. As a result, this nurtures the congregation and allows the church to flourish.
Serving young people cannot only prepare them to become future leaders, but also allow them to contribute to the church. This is seen many times in the Bible, as God often used young people to do great things. For example, God used Timothy to pastor and lead the Ephesian church when he was a teenager. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.”
In addition, there is much to be learned from the faith of a child. Matthew 18:2-4 says, “He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.’” Because of God’s heart for young people, it is important to recognize their value in today’s church.
The youth in the Church Community
In the church, the youth must play the same role as adults as the gospel mission calls all believers to glorify and spread the good news of God. Today, the youths in church are learning many Christian faith concepts which is important but they should not be set aside by adults as the Christian calling is a calling to all (Campbell, 2000). Youth involvement in the church community is crucial since it is in the church that the people of God meet Christ through the Holy Communion in a way that is concrete. Therefore, the churches must be friendly to youths in fostering their growth spiritually. When the youths are welcomed and allowed to serve alongside adults in the church community, they develop a full-fledged member feeling and can be easily identified as a community. The youths have a role to present their youthful vision and energy in the activities of the church since they have a great deal to offer as youth Christians to the church. Through meaningful roles, the youths can express their faith hence develop a commitment spirit to the church as a community. The church therefore must tap the talents from youths and be friendly to them through valuing the adolescents through adequate response to their needs and carefully giving the audience. The church must facilitate the youth activities through providing them with money and facilities that enable them to grow as disciplines (Thompson, 2017). As the youth commit to the church, the church must also give back to the youths by committing to their development.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to the relevance of ministry to teens to church growth
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items or things. The researcher is interested in getting information the relevance of ministry to teens to church growth. 200 members of Redeem church of God, Lagos state were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain the relevance of ministry to teens to church growth. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of the relevance of ministry to teens to church growth
Summary
This study was on the relevance of ministry to teens to church growth. Six objectives were raised which included: Defining and analysis the concept of teenager’s ministry, Showing how understanding the teenager can aid church growth, Presenting the problems of establishing teen’s church or having Teens Ministry, Reviewing the biblical perspective of Teenage age, Assessing the relevance or impact of Teens ministry on the growth of church and Suggesting solutions to challenges of leaders in Teens ministry. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 members of Redeem Christian church of God, Lagos state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made pastors, elders, youths and members students were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
In the church, the youth can do so much through volunteering to work with both children and the older congregation in many ways. They can as well reach out to people who are close to their own age who are walking through doors that the older church leaders may never understand. They are crucial and the church must tap this talent and energy owing to the fact that the church is one generation away from extinction as is believed that tomorrow’s church leadership belongs to the youth. With this respect, it is self-evident that the church must be serious on their commitment to the youth and give them priority in today’s church. It is not true to be hesitant as elderly church ministers that they could effectively minister the youth or prematurely conclude that youths have no interest in serving God. In as much as they think about latest secular music and movie stars, they should be made to serve God in the church through music and other areas where best talented so as to prevent them from engaging in worldly destruction pleasures. Hence, the only value we as Christians can give to the church today is to take care of the youths and value them as this will reward the youths, the church and the whole global community now and in the coming future
Recommendation
I recommend that further research needs to be done on practical ways of how family ministry can address the needs of the youth. The family ministry strategy can play a fundamental role to bridge the gap existing between adults and young people. The isolation of teenagers from adults and especially from their own parents can be addressed in the context of family ministry. The challenge, however, will be to design a workable plan to find ways to address the needs of young people. Another challenge is the fact that both parents and children do not want a complete integration and that must be discussed and planned by all concerned.
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