‘Praise the Lord for teenagers!’ that’s what I say, and I am not the only one. Teenagers often have a bad press, sometimes justifiably, and when we think of teenagers often words like ‘problem’, ‘trouble’, ‘attitude’ and ‘lazy’ spring into our heads. But this article is just a brief acknowledgement of all that Christian teenagers do in the service of the Lord and in the life of churches up and down the land.

You only have to go to a youth conference or young people’s camp to discover that there are a great number of teenagers, saved by the grace of God, serious about spiritual things, keen to serve the Lord and courageous in speaking for him and standing up for the truth. So let’s give thanks to the Lord for them and acknowledge the blessing that they are, and the good that they do.

Serving the Lord

I have spoken to a number of church leaders who tell me about the quiet work that young people do, giving up their time to help with children’s clubs, playing the organ or piano, and doing many other tasks that require faithfulness and commitment. The sections in italics are some of the comments that I’ve heard from these leaders. ‘It would be impossible to measure the tremendous blessing that fully committed Christian teenagers are in the life of the church. Which older Christian has not been encouraged and challenged afresh by their youthful zeal and enthusiasm, their vision and energy channelled into useful service for the Lord?’

I know of one young Christian teenager who for several years gathered the children after the morning service and held her own little Sunday school. The children loved it and who knows what eternal good was done. I am sure this sort of story could be duplicated in many churches.

How many holiday Bible clubs and beach missions run much more smoothly thanks to the willingness of teenagers to get involved and help out in whatever way they can? Teenagers can often put us adults to shame in their readiness to share the gospel with their friends and invite them along to church. Our youth groups grow because the Christian teenagers bring their friends along. ‘How invaluable is their witness through Christian Union, activities at school or college.’

It is an encouragement to hear them praying at the prayer meeting. A prayer meeting can be transformed by the stumbling, simple prayer of a teenager. ‘What rich blessing they have brought to the fellowship when they have been enabled to share in the prayer meeting however simply and haltingly.’ Several people have also spoken of how good teenagers can be at both talking to the older folk and also playing with the young children; there is nowhere quite like the church to see all the different age groups interacting.

Short-term service

In more recent years opportunities for short term service in a gap year has shown that teenagers are willing to think seriously about mission abroad. Jim Sayers writes, ‘Young people are crucial to the work of world mission, and it is vital that we invest time, energy and money in helping them to explore their sense of calling through their teens and into their twenties. Working with them can quicken the ideals and vision that we had when we were teenagers. We need to see the potential in them that the Lord sees, and to treat this as a gift from God for the growth of his church. At Grace Baptist Mission we are keen to develop our Short Term Service programme to provide opportunities for young people to serve the Lord in other cultures across the world and to help their churches in sending them. A gap year spent in the third world is a great reality check for young people brought up in the comfort of suburban Britain.’

Encouragement

As well as thanking the Lord for teenagers, make sure that they know that what they do is appreciated. Let us do all that we can to encourage them, to channel their zeal for the Lord in the right way. The next article makes clear that teenagers are encouraged when older Christians make the effort to try to understand and help them on. Praise the Lord for teenagers! That’s what I say.

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