Creative & Effective Youth Evangelism

Creative ministries in the 21st century must embrace certain understandings to be more relevant & effective in these days. We live in days when the level of awareness is very high. An average 5 year old child, living in a city has, most likely, interacted with technology his parents never had access to until they were in their late teens or early twenties.

Obviously this means that communicating with this generation will be different than the generation before them. I believe there are 3 things every creative ministry in the 21st century must have to be outstanding & effective in influencing today;s generation with the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. They are:

Consecration: We must realize that the backbone of any long-lasting influence on today's youth must be premised on a relationship with God. That is the foundation for the effectiveness & influence we desire. The power source of our ministry is this connection to God. 2 Timothy 2:21 says "Those who make themselves clean from all those evil things, will be used for special purposes, because they are dedicated and useful to their Master, ready to be used for every good deed."

One of the greatest challenges of these days is purity. The standards of integrity, purity and moral excellence have not changed. Interestingly, people still expect individuals to uphold certain values that ensure social cohesion. Things like truthfulness, integrity, loyalty, etc are still expected of people. Only individuals with deeply entrenched roots in God can truly live untainted as they interact with a world of moral depravity. The first requirement of ministry is a consecration to God.

The second thing is Skill. Skill is the know-how, the knowledge of the technology. Most creative ministries don't have the skill required to compete in the world, so we just retract into our "spiritual" environments. We tell them not to be carried away with the music but listen to the lyrics. The secular guys do the opposite by skillfully wrapping their lewd lyrics in excellent music. Excellence is a language all mankind understands and appreciates. And excellence doesn't come cheap. The price for excellence is hard-work and diligence. Most creative ministries receive inspiration from God but don't go beyond that. I believe inspiration usually comes as a zipped folder. It needs to be unzipped using the right software, which is meditation (something from my book How To Unlock Creative Flows).

The third thing is Wisdom. The message we preach will only get through to our audience if it is properly packaged. Wisdom is the key that helps us to know how exactly to package the message. It is what helps us to discern what exactly we are up against, knowing which tools to use per time. Without wisdom, we won't know when to come hard on the audience and when to be tender and gentle. It is this wisdom (knowledge, understanding & discernment) that the guys in the secular have that makes them a hit.

Here are my own thoughts, feel free to comment and visit our page on facebook.com/RAMPAGEOutreach