I’m not too surprised by these findings, because if we’re completely honest this is probably something every single Christian admits to from time to time. What I like about what I read is that there is clear evidence of a natural concern for the young people our youth workers are involved with, and isn’t that one of the most important requirements: to carry our youth on their hearts?
Exodus 28:29 tells us, ‘Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord.’
I’m reassured that we see youth workers carrying people in prayer. Most youth workers don’t get into it for the money! They take on the role because they have soft hearts and I find that encouraging. If your heart is soft towards other people, praying for them will be the natural thing to do. We pray for those we care about; we pray for their needs and their situations. This is a heart response and one that should be celebrated.
And I find it reassuring that youth workers are praying for themselves. They are simply taking God at his word, trusting that he cares for them and has invited them to bring their burdens to him.
What is slightly more concerning is the lack of listening and waiting. Again, I don’t think this is something that solely applies to youth workers. But whenever I see results like this, the primary thought that grabs me is: people don’t wait and listen when they are busy. In our busyness, we often pray for what is immediate. We pray for what is in front of us: the people and situations we encounter as we go about our work. But it’s sad that this can sometimes be at the expense of seeking his presence. ‘Being’ with God drops down the priority list.
I wish I was writing this article for employers of youth workers; for the church leaders and parents who expect so much from youth workers. Because the danger is that youth workers can be judged more on how busy they are and what they are seen to be delivering than how much time they spend in the presence of God.
We get busy and struggle to find the time to wait and listen for the specific thing God wants to do among us in our own locales. In an environment that is rich with models, listening and waiting can easily be replaced by investigating and implementing programmes.
Maybe it’s about all of us – youth workers, church leaders, parents – realigning our thinking to realise that the key to leading young people well is hearing God well. Psalm 131:2 says, ‘But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.’ Waiting and listening requires a degree of stilling and quieting.
Puritan nonconformist scholar and pastor Joseph Alleine was imprisoned for his faith on a number of occasions during the 17th Century, but wrote this to a friend: ‘I can say, through grace, with the church, “With my soul have I desired thee in the night and with my spirit within me have I sought thee early.” My heart is early and late with God; ‘tis the business and delight of my life to seek him.’ What if the primary responsibility of our youth workers was to make it the business and delight of their lives to seek him, and to pass that on to our youth?
We do gain wisdom and learn from others involved in youth work, but this must never replace our dependence on the Holy Spirit. God is looking for people who may well be inspired by the stories, courses and models of others but still depend on him to lead them in the unfolding of his story in their own lives. God is not looking for us to create Christian formulae, but rather to wait on him, seek his presence and spend time alone with him, developing an ear that hears what he says and not what our busy lives demand of us. All our knowledge, reading and experience will count for very little if we don’t have a dynamic, active and responsive prayer life that makes us attentive to God and his leading.
Matthew 7: 13-14 says: ‘Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and requires total attention’ (The Message).
Let’s make space to wait on the Spirit, to listen to God, to retreat and pray. And let’s be reassured that when youth workers fall to their knees and pray for others this is evidence of soft hearts that are broken by what breaks the heart of God.
According to EM Bounds in Power Through Prayer (Merchant Books), preacher Henry Martyn had this one lament about his first year in ministry: ‘He judged he had dedicated too much time to public ministrations, and too little to private communion with God.’
My heart is that these findings will stir us to seek out more time in private communion with God.
