If you have young adults in your congregation, you have a role to play in encouraging them in evangelism. I meet people my age all the time who are spiritually searching, but have never been to church, and in some cases, I am the first Christian they’ve ever met. When I was a student worker, I once invited a student to church, and they asked me what day it was on. This gives unique opportunities, and poses challenges too, so how do we equip young adults to reach their friends? I believe the whole church has a part to play in helping young adults grow in the area of evangelism. Here are three key ways:
Family
Young adults need family; spiritual mums and dads, uncles and aunts, grandparents too. When I was a student, a couple at church in their sixties ‘adopted’ me – they would ask me what I was up to each week and pray for those things, they helped me navigate big decisions about what to do after uni, and I was able to introduce them to a few of my friends that didn’t know Jesus as well. And it wasn’t just me they did that for; over the years they’ve ‘adopted’ several young adults, cheered them on, prayed for them, and invited them into their lives. This helped me to share my faith, as I knew they would love to hear the stories, would celebrate with me, were praying for my friends too and would be safe arms to turn to when I was faced with pushback for being a Christian. They were fundamental in me figuring out what it looked like to share Jesus on campus and being bold in doing so. I knew I had a spiritual mum and dad that had my back. Could you be family to a young adult?
Reliance on scripture
You can give young adults the precious gift of a love and reliance on the word of God – teaching them how to read the Bible, how to understand it and build their lives upon it. We can’t assume knowledge.
Hopefully those who have been following Jesus for a while are more familiar with the scriptures, but for many young adults within our churches they have never properly opened the Bible for themselves, they struggle to understand it and haven’t considered what it means for the Bible to have authority over every area of their lives. Through reading the Bible with them, inviting all their questions, and showing them how your life has been shaped by the word, you will set them up well for life, but also for reaching their friends that don’t know Jesus. If they really understand the good news for themselves, through reading the word, not through just regurgitating something they’ve heard, they will be better equipped for life, but also for sharing faith in sensitive and powerful ways to their friends that have never read the Bible or heard the good news.
Cultural understanding
At the heart of the questions young adults are asking about faith is the question, “what does it mean to be human?” – encompassing matters of identity, sexuality, the environment, mental health, technology and so much more. Every day, we’re swimming in stories, and it can be challenging to identify what is a cultural story and what is the God story, what is good, beautiful and true, and what is a half gospel story. We need fearless discipleship in our churches that doesn’t shy away from hot-button issues and awkward questions. How can you create a culture where young adults know that they can approach you with all their questions, and that no topic is off-limits?
In 1 Peter 3:15, we’re encouraged “to be prepared to give an answer for the hope that you have” – we want this to be true of our young adults. We don’t want them to be in a situation where they’re asked about a hot-button issue that they’ve never heard a sermon on or haven’t had a conversation with someone at church about. Let the church be the place where they can figure out how to talk about sensitive issues with truth and love. Let’s help them think through what the God story is and how the good news is good news for every question, person or situation.
You might not feel equipped to do this, but it is our bread and butter here at the Being Human project! We would love to provide you with tools to help your church’s young adults share the God story in a world swirling with cultural stories. Why not get in touch?
It takes the whole church to encourage young adults in evangelism. They need you to be present in their lives, to help them read the Bible and understand the culture they’re immersed in. Won’t you cheer them on as they step out to share faith with their friends who are spiritually searching but haven’t given Jesus a thought yet.