Why Not Young People? - YWAM Perth Australia
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Why Not Young People?

"Gen Z is poised to join... one of the most exciting eras in missions history"

Growing up in Indonesia, no one ever told me that being a missionary could be an option for a profession, until I met YWAMers. I was gripped by their love for the people in my country. They showed me ways to love others, and it was all so simple. I saw people get healed, a small village swarmed us with eager expectations for prayers, and transformed lives as individuals joyfully chose to follow Jesus. I learned that there are so many people in the world who still haven't heard about Jesus, and that broke my heart.  

So I set off and did my Young People's Discipleship Training School (DTS) in Perth when I was 18 and it changed the course of my life. On outreach, I went to a restricted nation in Asia, a wealthy country in Europe, and a rural community in Australia in the span of three months. It was a lot of travel and exposure to the needs around the world. It opened up my eyes to see how the Gospel can change lives and the need for the Gospel to be shared in every corner of the world! 

For me, and for many others, our youth and early 20’s are often the best time to discover what life can look like. I spent my youth and 20’s exploring my faith, being rooted in friendships, and asking questions about my purpose in life. I loved it and it was the best time that I could ever give to be formed in Christlikeness and discover my vocation. Youth With a Mission became a place where Christian formation and discipleship were readily available to me. It's been a launchpad for me as I’ve learned who I am in Christ and found my place in this world. 

Through the lens of scripture and in my own observation, I believe in young people in missions. Young people in this cultural moment are called Gen Z. But what about the mission landscape in our world today? What are the opportunities that are before us in this cultural moment of mission movement related to Gen Z? One encouraging fact is that Gen Z rarely associates negative emotions with faith-sharing. In this article, the data shows that, contrary to what we might expect, the top five emotions that Christian Gen Z felt while sharing faith are calm, peaceful, awkward, proud, and happy.  

Another encouraging insight about our location in Australia is that almost half of Australians (46%) are extremely or very open to being in a spiritual conversation that may involve different views from their own.

But here's a challenging statistic that I discovered from further research from the Barna organisation. It says that nearly half of churched Christians (51%) say they've never heard of the Great Commission. This statistic is from the United States, one of the largest missionary-sending nation, where the Church in the nation is relatively active.

My ministry team and I recently returned from a trip to a South-East Asia country where there is active engagement with Christianity. On one occasion, we presented a quiz for a church’s youth group. One of the questions was about the number of missionaries focused on unreached people groups. One of the girls asked, “What is a missionary?” I needed to go back to the basics, but it wasn’t necessarily surprising because their exposure to the Christian faith is less than in the USA. With this statistic from Barna, I wonder if I would get the same response in presenting about missions to a church in the USA.  

With all that in mind, I was encouraged recently by a book I read which stated that, "Gen Z is poised to join what could be one of the most exciting eras in missions history as God is raising up a global movement from everywhere to everywhere to faithfully share the Gospel with those who have yet to hear of His love and truth!" * 

That quote challenged me to start thinking about what we can do to raise Gen Z up to take their place in the Great Commission. It gives me hope that the Gospel will continue to move forward to some of the places that still haven't heard the Good News. It energises me because you can be a missionary no matter where you are from!

 

- Looking at the exciting opportunities for Gen Z to be in missions, but challenged by the fact that many in Gen Z are not familiar with the Great Commission, how should we respond?  

- If you are part of Gen Z, as you look at the incredible opportunities for you in missions, how will you respond? 

By Tirza Hartono

 

* Mobilizing Gen Z: Challenges and Opportunities for the Global Age of Missions - Jolene Erlacher and Katy White