At annual conference I presented a workshop titled "The Present Future: Engaging the Hearts of Young Leaders." The main thrust of my workshop is that we must be intentional about leadership development or the future of the church is in serious trouble. I spent some time taking a look at the youth ministry landscape today and then shared a vision for leadership development in the Free Methodist Church. The workshop was well received by those in attendance, but I was also a bit discouraged by a smaller turnout. It just seems that by and large, our denominations are not making young people a priority and I wonder if there's a connection between this and the decline of denominations being experienced today.
Today I preached my final sermon as youth pastor at Wesley Church. The title of my sermon was "Will Our Children Have Faith?" The titled was borrowed from a book with the same title written by John Westerhoff III. In my message I looked at Deuteronomy 6.4-9 where the Hebrew people are instructed to bind God's commands to their foreheads (also known as phylacteries) and also at Matthew 18.1-6 where Jesus warns his audience that if they cause little ones to stumble it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck. So the question I put before the church was, are we wearing phylacteries (telling the story of faith to younger generations) or are we wearing millstones (causing our young people to stumble in their faith)? My challenge to the church in my exit was to make the young people a priority and to see youth ministry not just as the task of the youth pastor, but as the task of the church.
This week is all about packing and getting ready for the big move on June 22. We found a great house that we can afford thanks to the generosity of some friends!
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