For the sake of our youth

Gilbert Cangy

Worshipping at my local church recently, I was blessed by a meaningful and inspirational worship service, led by a number of youth and teens. In the announcement time, the young people promoted four service trips to Cambodia and Thailand planned for the end of the year, for which they are hoping to raise $120,000. As I listened, my mind drifted to the hundreds of Adventist young people around Australia and New Zealand who selflessly give their time and resources to be the hands and feet of Jesus in communities in their homeland, as well as other needy parts of the world.

A few weeks earlier, I was invited to make a presentation at an evangelistic training event in Sydney, attended by 830 young people from around Australia. One had to be there to sense the devotion, passion and self-sacrificing spirit of these young people for their church and its mission.

We are seeing the rise of this "army of youth" the prophet wished for-an unconventionally radical army for Jesus. But the question that I have been pondering is: How can we, as leaders and parents, catch up and keep up with, as well as sustain, this renewal in spirituality and mission among our young people? Do we have what it takes?

On another occasion, I was in court in support of one of our young people who had found himself in trouble. Summing up the case before the sentencing, the judge observed, "The defendant grew up in a Seventh-day Adventist environment, where religious dogma was more important than love and rules took precedence over caring concern." These words went straight to my heart. While we are not excusing the wrong decisions our young people make, we cannot escape the fact that they receive their first impressions of Jesus and His kingdom from us. I left the courtroom troubled.

While we have defined ourselves as "people of the Book," and recognise the central place doctrine and the study of Scriptures have in the life of the church, we have assumed that a doctrinal focus, in and of itself, brings about transformation in the lives of its members. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily the case. The church can be made up of many informed and conformed members who are yet to be transformed. Many among us can explain aspects of our beliefs but are not growing in reflecting the image of Christ in relationships with one another and the wider community.

The problem is that if the transformation offered by Jesus is not experienced, we may be tempted to replace it with pseudotransformation. Instead of experiencing increasing measures of love and joy that proceed from the transforming presence of the Spirit, we will focus on external behaviours religious people exhibit to feel they are different from the non-religious.

A strong "informational" approach to Scriptures-gathering and comparing biblical texts to formulate doctrines and prove our teachings-has not always been accompanied by the "formational" approach-the meditation of Scripture where God speaks directly to our hearts. The neglect of meditation has often resulted in a lack of transformation, causing a measure of dissonance between belief and practice.

The place and purpose of meditation upon Scripture is established in the first Psalm: "Blessed is the man . . . [whose] delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers" (Psalm 1:1-3, NIV).

The study of Scriptures and meditation are complementary. A balanced interplay between the two approaches is necessary. If the study of the Word is the entry point into the text, meditation beckons us to enter into that deeper encounter with the Word. By entering this, we are shaped toward wholeness in the image of Christ.

Our starting question was "How can we catch up with, keep up with and sustain this renewal among our young people?"

Part of the answer lies in a renewed openness to the transforming reading of His Word. Our young people deserve to see the reality of the God's kingdom in the lives of those who are urging them toward salvation and service. Let us commit to this for the sake of our youth.

Gilbert Cangy is the director of Adventist Youth Ministries for the South Pacific.

This has been an editorial from Record, March 21, 2009.