Guest Blog:

Dave Reardon// Generations Pastor//Shirelive Church, Sydney

Dave.reardon@shirelive.com

Cheesy scary movies were a big part of my early teenage years. Sitting up late, munching Burger Rings and watching “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” or “The Man with Two Brains” was a top way to spend a Friday night (before I discovered this thing called youth group).

Most of the movies were just dumb fun, but one night I started watching a full-on werewolf flick that completely freaked me out. The idea of a beast so tough it could only be killed by a silver bullet sent me scampering to my bedroom long before the credits rolled – but it was too late! There was no escaping my furtive teenage imagination as every shadow on the bedroom wall became a monster in my mind. I slept with the light on for weeks.

Myths and shadows aren’t just the stuff of kids’ nightmares either. Many in the church today find themselves completely intimidated by the myths and shadows when it comes to young adults ministry. Let’s take a minute to flick the light on and examine the top three myths.

It’s tough because there are so many choices, pubs and clubs are the competition, cynicism is rife. Everyone says it, so it must be true, right? Well, not necessarily. Just because something isn’t easy doesn’t make it too hard.  In Mark 16:15 Jesus said to go into the world, preach to ALL people and make disciples (notice he didn’t excuse young adults from the ‘all people’ bit … in fact most of his disciples were in that age bracket). Confidence and commitment is your silver bullet. Dig deep and find that God-born glint in your eye, knowing He hasn’t set us up to fail.

It’s not meant to be. Challenge young adults to take responsibility and throw themselves into helping others (whether as a youth leader, kids worker, church services, justice and community issues).  Teach them to find peace in so-called normal life and day-to-day faith, pulling down the prevailing myth that young adults need emotional highs from constant travel, extreme activities, partying or even a new church. Find joy in the simple things.

Being a young adult is about growing up, not old. When I joined my first youth group I discovered better things to do on a Friday night than watching cheesy movies – stuff like glue-wrestling, watermelon rugby, live music and yes, even worshipping God!  Young adults may not want gross games anymore but they still love to laugh, sing and have a great time. Yes coffee is good, but young adults want much more than latte – they want it fun (just look at the number of young ads at the Big Day Out) and they want it meaningful. Let’s fill our services with 3W’s– worship, word and warmth. Make gatherings funny, engaging, deep, moving and powerful. In doing so, we can slay the myths and help build leaders who, as it says in Daniel 11:32, know their God and do great exploits.