Could your child be part of a new generation of Billy Grahams?

As we launched Amplify this year, I was thrilled to see so many young people choosing to be bold in expressing and sharing their faith. We’ve such a passionate group of young people on the programme who are already sharing Jesus with their mates in many different ways. And that’s only going to grow throughout the year. In a time when it may seem that many things are not growing numerically in the UK Church, particularly in some youth ministries, it means so much to see how Amplify has doubled in just one year.

This October, we saw 100 young people being trained and equipped. But it’s not just the numbers that have increased, the calibre of those taking part has risen in passion, gift and desire for evangelism. God is clearly working among young people to share Jesus.

I believe that this is a genuine reflection of some young people still in local churches - a bold remnant! The challenge facing young evangelists today has changed in the last 10 years to be a challenge revolving around cancel culture - something run by a few people who believe a broad set of beliefs and anyone who disagrees with them is shamed and cancelled and put in some sort of digital village stocks. If this generation wants to bring a message of living a life of integrity, they are going to have to stand up against that. But the exciting thing is that as it becomes harder to share their faith, young people are making stronger commitments to Jesus because following Jesus now has bigger social consequences. This, then, is the time to raise up and disciple a generation of ’Lydias’ and ’Peters’ as bold evangelists!

A dirty word?

I think that evangelism has become something of a dirty word over time and Gen Z sees certain kinds of evangelism as ‘salesman-like techniques’ or fake, certainly not something authentic. I also think that young people don’t see the need for evangelism because they don’t understand it. However, they do see the need for Mark 16:15 [preach the good news to all creation]. This generation is one that sees that the world is broken in all aspects and the young people in our churches know there is a restoration plan as God is on a mission to bring his light, love and life to every dark space and place. Amplify wants to invite young people to join in that mission through authentic evangelism. They are often more aware of the need than we, or they, might realise, and this generation certainly has the boldness to go out there and meet it.

 So if you are a parent, your child could be one of these young people. Your child may have the gift of the evangelist and we want them to know that they have a role to help equip your local church with their unique gifts and impact the world around them. The team at Amplify is really excited about how we can come alongside parents and youth leaders to bring evangelists into every sphere: politics, business, arts, media, sport and so on. We seek to resource and equip young people on Amplify to be able to walk into the rest of their lives carrying the power of the gospel and understanding how to retain and gain influence where they are. Amplify has 100 young people already learning and stepping out so more people can experience and hear the gospel. We believe that many more have the potential to do this and can’t wait to see Amplify keep growing with more young people equipped as evangelists!

What have you done to my son?

A parent said about their child who had come on Amplify: “What have you done to my son?! He has prayed for healing for his teacher and brought more people to church from his school than ever before.” And this kind of spiritual boldness has been seen in another young person from the North West setting up a clothing brand that is gospel-based; a lad from the Midlands creating a YouTube channel to communicate the gospel and another girl from Lancashire writing a blog about her illness to communicate the gospel through her story. When we place belief, resources and encouragement in our young people, they are able to reach people in incredible ways.

Could your child be an evangelist too? Do they have a passion to see new people in their youth group? Are they never satisfied with the same few Christians in their church youth? Do they want to see people hear about Jesus and keep inviting friends to things? If this sounds like your child, they are not alone. There are others like this on Amplify this year and so many more across the country with these gifts from God. 99.9% of young people though won’t come to you and say ‘I’m an evangelist, send me out into the mission field’. Our young people don’t know they are evangelists or what that means. But we do. We can see it in them and the purity of their motives.

God is really working among young people, using them to reach new areas, and new people and do evangelism in an authentic way founded in Jesus.

Talking personally

I talk from personal experience. When I was 16 years old, I heard about the Hope 08 year of mission. This stirred something inside me and I knew my church had to be involved. I went to my youth pastor who bravely said that I should lead it for our church; he even gave me a budget! We saw God do some awesome stuff and I caught the bug. Someone acknowledging that gift and equipping me was transformational. We are those people who can do that for young people today. How can you disciple and encourage your child in evangelism? Maybe they want to come on Amplify next year?

 Among the children of today are the next Billy Graham, Jackie Pullinger, and J John. The possibilities for what this generation can do are endless. Just imagine them reaching their generation for Jesus, equipping the Church to reach our generation and equipping the next generation to reach the generations to come! God is truly present in our young people.