Youth ministry is in full swing all over China. Due to the different conditions of churches, expectations, organizational forms, and content for youth ministry vary. Factors like the number and living conditions of young people, the number and quality of pastoral teams, donations received by the church, local belief traditions, leaders’ cognition, and the relationship between fellow workers all influence youth ministry’s development. Among them, local young people’s basic situation is the main constraint. The following are three different types of youth ministry.
Church A’s youth ministry was established in 2010. By 2024, its membership had grown from over 30 to more than 200. Fixed activities are established in the form of fellowships and small groups. The main truth-based activities are a weekly gathering called “fellowship day,” featuring welcoming new members, bible study, and group discussions; weekly and quarterly prayer meetings; daily group online meditation and three chapters of Bible reading; various activities including worship and praise meetings, group gatherings, holiday celebrations, camping for singles or couples, etc. In the ministry, there is a lively and intimate fellowship culture, including a clear vision, admin system, convention; formal ceremony of making a pledge, birthday party, excellent group award, drawing pictures symbolizing the characteristics of the group together; planting flowers representing the group and fellowship together, and waiting for another appointment ten years later. Disciples turned back to serve the church, and young people became the main serving teams of reception, visit, worship, orientation, and choir of the church.
This kind of youth ministry has an enviable “high configuration.” One of the obvious characteristics is that the living conditions of this group of young people are very different from those of most other regions. The city where the church is located is in the second tier, which is a rising star in the province. The area where the church is located is at the center of the city’s rapid development, which means many job opportunities. The culture of mobility and the economic conditions of GDP per capita are close to those of developed countries, which make this generation of young people willing to stay here, relatively rich, basically stable in marriage and family, and more comfortable in the pace of life.
The point to emphasize this is that, as many pastors elaborate, why they cannot carry out active youth ministry is due to the fact that the local young people have left or the fast pace of life makes it difficult for them. As a Chinese saying goes, a capable housewife cooks nothing without ingredients. The work pressure has squeezed young people’s bodies, energy, and time infinitely, making it difficult for them to take a personal break so that they can join a fellowship. The common local background of young people in Church A makes it easier for them to have close fellowship with each other and enhanced commitment to the church.
Church B still has a certain proportion of young people, some of whom are from the local area, and some come here for study or career development. Compared with Church A, they objectively have less time to attend church activities, and their differences in life experience and cultural background are more obvious. Their abilities of intellectual knowledge and music worship vary.
Their youth fellowship is a set of relationship-oriented and relaxed activities, including band training, reading club, and weekend leisure. They serve to attract young people to join or return to the church, making it easier to come; weekly Bible teaching is fixed, providing courses with strong relevance to young people’s lives and mentality, with guaranteed guidance on truth; young people’s talents will be explored and help provided for them to serve so as to enhance their sense of belonging.
Church B’s expectation of young people’s participation in church activities is generally lower than that of A. Youth ministry can provide young people with targeted truth and relationship courses with regular schedules to realize a small proportion of servitude transformation, which is the pastoral effect they can achieve.
Church C, located in a rural area of Central China, faces a serious problem of young people leaving. Of the 500 congregations who attend Sunday services, less than 200 are under the age of 60, less than 100 are under the age of 40, and there are almost no young people around the age of 20. Leaving home to study and work is the main reason for the loss. Even so, the church can still make efforts in youth ministry. The 2022 Spring Festival was the starting point. A theology student who grew up in the church returned after graduation and took charge of the youth group in addition to pastoral affairs on weekdays. During the festival, she gathered more than 30 believers in their twenties to the church by contacting their parents. It took them a month to re-establish the habit of reading the Bible, attending sermons, sharing beliefs, and praying. At the end of the festival holiday, everyone was settled in a group, and the group leader was responsible for following up and connecting, doing online group courses, and urging them to actively participate in the religious activities of the local church.
Church C’s orientation and expectation for youth ministry is only to serve these “migratory birds,” and the most basic purpose is to ensure that the group can constantly maintain a relationship with a church, whether it is the church at home or elsewhere at work; provide them a group of peers belonging to the faith, so that they will not feel lonely and support each other spiritually; and step by step, keep good spiritual practice habits.
It is worth mentioning that most churches are not without young people, and they can also be very roughly categorized into the above three churches, of which the second and third ones are the majority. However, even in churches with superior conditions like A, there are examples of youth ministries being perfunctory. Not to mention there are not a few churches with the conditions of B and C that abandon youth ministry. Why can the three stand out and exceed expectations? Although they have their own characteristics, they also reflect some commonalities in concept and principle.
The first is the leader. A leader, who can see the importance of youth ministry has a burden, determination and persistence in youth are the keys to success. Poorer conditions, more complicated situations, and difficult relationships need a leader worthy of God’s trust all the more.
The second is the relationship. The new generation of young people is very direct. If they have connections, they will stay. If the atmosphere is uncomfortable, they will leave. The church should deeply realize this. In addition to peer relationships, in the above three typical examples, the leaders all emphasize that they should be friends rather than parents. Young people are against the authority that is unreasonable, but they like the authority that has been proved. The person in charge should win their trust and respect.
Moreover, form and content are equally important, and diverse activities and truth-learning are equally important. No activity is in line with the characteristics of young people; without Bible study, no ministry will last long.
Postscript
From the perspective of faith inheritance, the development of youth and family ministry has reached a critical moment that a church can no longer ignore. At present, the majority of young people in the state-recognized church still belong to the people who have had faith since childhood. They received the seeds of faith from their parents, gained a solid foundation in Sunday schools, went to other cities to pursue their studies, and became young members of local churches.
However, since the Sunday school ministry ceased, for nearly two to six the second generations of believers have not grown up in a church atmosphere. At the same time, most family ministries have only emerged for not so long. In the foreseeable three to five years, the next generation who might grow up in a believing environment will largely decrease not until very well-established family ministry matures and continues.
On the subject of faith inheritance, during the period when the church changed from relying on Sunday school ministry to relying on parent and family ministry, in order to reduce the loss, the most important thing to hold of at present is the last generation of young people who grew up in Sunday school ministry and are now gradually over 18 years old.
- Edited by Karen Luo, translated by Charlie Li
各地有不少如火如荼开展着的青年团契。不同教会拥有不同的基础条件，对青年事工的阶段性期待、组织形式、内容等可以有所不同。诸如教会年轻人数量和生活状态、教牧队伍人数和质量、教会奉献情况、当地信仰传统、领袖认识、同工关系等都会影响青年事工的开展。其中又以当地年轻人基本情况为主要约束条件。以下是三个不同类型的青年事工。
A教会青年团契自2010年成立，2014年迎来现任负责牧师，十年过去，从当初的30余人发展到如今200多人。以团契和小组为组织形式，形成固定活动，主要的真理建造活动包括每周一次“团契日”聚会，以迎新、查经、分组讨论为主要内容；每周、每季度祷告会，每天小组线上灵修分享、三章读经打卡；创造丰富的相聚时光，包括敬拜赞美会、小组聚会、各种节假日庆祝活动、单身营会、夫妻营会等。拥有活泼亲密的团契文化，包括清晰的异象、团契制度、公约，正式的立约决志仪式、生日会、小组优选奖励、共同描绘象征小组特质的图画，一起种下代表小组和团契情谊的植物，等待十年后再约等。门徒转化反哺教会服侍，年轻人成为该堂接待、探访、敬拜、迎新、诗班等各项事工主力。
这一类青年团契具有令人钦羡的“高配置”，比较明显的特征之一在于，这群年轻人的生活状态与大多数其他地区的年轻人非常不同。该教会所在城市属二线城市，是该省冉冉升起的新星，且教会所在地区位于该市高速发展中心地带，工作机会多，安土重迁的文化和人均GDP接近发达国家水平的经济条件，令这一代年轻人愿意选择留在本地，相对富足，婚姻家庭基本稳定，生活节奏较为游刃有余。
之所以强调这一点在于，许多牧者解释无法开展活跃的青年事工的突出原因之一是，当地年轻人外流或年轻人高负荷的生活节奏，“巧妇难为无米之炊”，而996甚至更卷的职场环境和压力，无限挤压年轻人的身体、精力与时间，令他们难以拿出个人休息喘息的时间进入另一场集体学习中。而A教会共同的本地背景也让他们彼此间更易于产生亲密的团契关系，委身感随之增强。
B教会依然拥有一定比例的年轻人，他们有的来自本地，有的随求学或产业发展来此。与A教会相比，他们客观上能出席教会活动的时间更少，生活经历、文化背景等方面的不同点更明显，其拥有的智识、音乐敬拜等能力则随地区各有差异。
该教会青年团契首先是以关系为导向的轻松活动，比如乐队学习、读书会、周末游玩等方式吸引青年人进入或回归教会，降低他们进入教会的门槛；保障每周一次圣经教导，设置与年轻人生活和心理相关性强的课程，保障在真理上给与指引；发掘年轻人的才能，帮助他们进入服侍，以此增强他们的归属感。
B教会对年轻人参与教会活动时间密度的期待总体比A教会低，青年团契能依靠规律日程和固定组织为年轻人提供针对性较强的真理学习、关系团契，并自然而然实现小比例的使役转化，是他们力所能及可实现的牧养效果。
位于华中农村的C堂，面临严重的青年人流失问题。平时主日礼拜五百人中低于60岁的不足两百，40岁往下不足一百，几乎没有20岁左右的年轻人，外出求学和务工是流失的主要原因。即使如此，教会依然可以在青年事工上做出努力。春节是切入口。从小在教会长大的一位神学生毕业后回到本地，在平日教牧事务之外，主抓青年小组。2022年春节，她通过联系一些人的父母，把三十几个二十左右的年轻人聚集到教会，利用一个月的时间让他们重新建立读经、听道、分享、祷告的习惯，假期结束时把每个人落户小组，由小组长负责跟进联系，做线上小组课程学习，并督促他们积极参与当地教会的信仰活动。
C教会对青年事工的定位和期待，只是服侍这群“候鸟”，最基本的目的是保障这群年轻人能始终与一个教会保持关系，无论是家乡还是工作地教会；为他们提供一个属于信仰的同龄人圈子，让不至于感到孤单，在属灵上互相支持；并能循序渐进，保持良好的属灵操练习惯。
值得一提的是，大部分教会都并非没有年轻人，也可以非常粗略地匹配进以上三种教会的情况，其中又以第二种和第三种居多。但即使有如A堂一般优越条件的教会，也有青年事工敷衍了事的例子，如B堂和C堂条件的教会在青年牧养上躺平的更不在少数。为何三者可以在本堂条件上脱颖而出，超出期待？他们虽各有特性，但在理念原则上又反映出一些共通之处。
首先是领袖。一位能看见青年事工重要性，对青年牧养有负担、有决心、又能坚持的领袖是成功的关键。越是贫乏的条件，越复杂的局势，越艰难的关系，越需要一位值得神托付的领袖。
其次是关系。新一代年轻人非常直接，有关系就留下来，氛围不舒服就会离开，教会要深刻认识到这一点。除了同辈关系之外，以上三个典型例子中，带领者无一不强调，要做朋友而非家长。年轻人反对不由分说的权威，但他们喜欢被证明了的权威，负责人要为自己赢得他们的信任与尊敬。
并且，形式与内容并重，多样活动与真理学习并重。没有活动不符合青年人的特点；没有圣经学习，则本末倒置，事工没有长久的生命力。
后记
从信仰传承的角度看，发展青年事工和家庭事工已经到了教会决不能再忽视的关键时刻。现在体制内教会里的青年人，占大多数的依然属于从小有信仰的人群。他们从父母领受信仰种子，在主日学事工得到坚固，随求学工作走向其他城市，成为当地教会的青年人。
但自主日学事工停止，少则两年，多则近六年，一代人已经过去，这群信二代在没有教堂礼拜的环境中成长起来，与此同时多数家庭事工还刚刚起步。可预见的未来三五年内，在信仰环境中成长起来的下一代总体来说会不断减少。直到可以接续成熟的家庭事工。
在信仰传承的课题上，教会从依靠主日学事工向依靠父母家庭转变的期间，为减少损耗，当下最应当抓住的关键正是最后一代在主日学事工中成长起来，而现在已渐进迈过十八岁的这群青年人。
观察：三种年轻人资源条件下的青年事工实践经验
Youth ministry is in full swing all over China. Due to the different conditions of churches, expectations, organizational forms, and content for youth ministry vary. Factors like the number and living conditions of young people, the number and quality of pastoral teams, donations received by the church, local belief traditions, leaders’ cognition, and the relationship between fellow workers all influence youth ministry’s development. Among them, local young people’s basic situation is the main constraint. The following are three different types of youth ministry.
Church A’s youth ministry was established in 2010. By 2024, its membership had grown from over 30 to more than 200. Fixed activities are established in the form of fellowships and small groups. The main truth-based activities are a weekly gathering called “fellowship day,” featuring welcoming new members, bible study, and group discussions; weekly and quarterly prayer meetings; daily group online meditation and three chapters of Bible reading; various activities including worship and praise meetings, group gatherings, holiday celebrations, camping for singles or couples, etc. In the ministry, there is a lively and intimate fellowship culture, including a clear vision, admin system, convention; formal ceremony of making a pledge, birthday party, excellent group award, drawing pictures symbolizing the characteristics of the group together; planting flowers representing the group and fellowship together, and waiting for another appointment ten years later. Disciples turned back to serve the church, and young people became the main serving teams of reception, visit, worship, orientation, and choir of the church.
This kind of youth ministry has an enviable “high configuration.” One of the obvious characteristics is that the living conditions of this group of young people are very different from those of most other regions. The city where the church is located is in the second tier, which is a rising star in the province. The area where the church is located is at the center of the city’s rapid development, which means many job opportunities. The culture of mobility and the economic conditions of GDP per capita are close to those of developed countries, which make this generation of young people willing to stay here, relatively rich, basically stable in marriage and family, and more comfortable in the pace of life.
The point to emphasize this is that, as many pastors elaborate, why they cannot carry out active youth ministry is due to the fact that the local young people have left or the fast pace of life makes it difficult for them. As a Chinese saying goes, a capable housewife cooks nothing without ingredients. The work pressure has squeezed young people’s bodies, energy, and time infinitely, making it difficult for them to take a personal break so that they can join a fellowship. The common local background of young people in Church A makes it easier for them to have close fellowship with each other and enhanced commitment to the church.
Church B still has a certain proportion of young people, some of whom are from the local area, and some come here for study or career development. Compared with Church A, they objectively have less time to attend church activities, and their differences in life experience and cultural background are more obvious. Their abilities of intellectual knowledge and music worship vary.
Their youth fellowship is a set of relationship-oriented and relaxed activities, including band training, reading club, and weekend leisure. They serve to attract young people to join or return to the church, making it easier to come; weekly Bible teaching is fixed, providing courses with strong relevance to young people’s lives and mentality, with guaranteed guidance on truth; young people’s talents will be explored and help provided for them to serve so as to enhance their sense of belonging.
Church B’s expectation of young people’s participation in church activities is generally lower than that of A. Youth ministry can provide young people with targeted truth and relationship courses with regular schedules to realize a small proportion of servitude transformation, which is the pastoral effect they can achieve.
Church C, located in a rural area of Central China, faces a serious problem of young people leaving. Of the 500 congregations who attend Sunday services, less than 200 are under the age of 60, less than 100 are under the age of 40, and there are almost no young people around the age of 20. Leaving home to study and work is the main reason for the loss. Even so, the church can still make efforts in youth ministry. The 2022 Spring Festival was the starting point. A theology student who grew up in the church returned after graduation and took charge of the youth group in addition to pastoral affairs on weekdays. During the festival, she gathered more than 30 believers in their twenties to the church by contacting their parents. It took them a month to re-establish the habit of reading the Bible, attending sermons, sharing beliefs, and praying. At the end of the festival holiday, everyone was settled in a group, and the group leader was responsible for following up and connecting, doing online group courses, and urging them to actively participate in the religious activities of the local church.
Church C’s orientation and expectation for youth ministry is only to serve these “migratory birds,” and the most basic purpose is to ensure that the group can constantly maintain a relationship with a church, whether it is the church at home or elsewhere at work; provide them a group of peers belonging to the faith, so that they will not feel lonely and support each other spiritually; and step by step, keep good spiritual practice habits.
It is worth mentioning that most churches are not without young people, and they can also be very roughly categorized into the above three churches, of which the second and third ones are the majority. However, even in churches with superior conditions like A, there are examples of youth ministries being perfunctory. Not to mention there are not a few churches with the conditions of B and C that abandon youth ministry. Why can the three stand out and exceed expectations? Although they have their own characteristics, they also reflect some commonalities in concept and principle.
The first is the leader. A leader, who can see the importance of youth ministry has a burden, determination and persistence in youth are the keys to success. Poorer conditions, more complicated situations, and difficult relationships need a leader worthy of God’s trust all the more.
The second is the relationship. The new generation of young people is very direct. If they have connections, they will stay. If the atmosphere is uncomfortable, they will leave. The church should deeply realize this. In addition to peer relationships, in the above three typical examples, the leaders all emphasize that they should be friends rather than parents. Young people are against the authority that is unreasonable, but they like the authority that has been proved. The person in charge should win their trust and respect.
Moreover, form and content are equally important, and diverse activities and truth-learning are equally important. No activity is in line with the characteristics of young people; without Bible study, no ministry will last long.
Postscript
From the perspective of faith inheritance, the development of youth and family ministry has reached a critical moment that a church can no longer ignore. At present, the majority of young people in the state-recognized church still belong to the people who have had faith since childhood. They received the seeds of faith from their parents, gained a solid foundation in Sunday schools, went to other cities to pursue their studies, and became young members of local churches.
However, since the Sunday school ministry ceased, for nearly two to six the second generations of believers have not grown up in a church atmosphere. At the same time, most family ministries have only emerged for not so long. In the foreseeable three to five years, the next generation who might grow up in a believing environment will largely decrease not until very well-established family ministry matures and continues.
On the subject of faith inheritance, during the period when the church changed from relying on Sunday school ministry to relying on parent and family ministry, in order to reduce the loss, the most important thing to hold of at present is the last generation of young people who grew up in Sunday school ministry and are now gradually over 18 years old.
- Edited by Karen Luo, translated by Charlie Li
Observation: Three Types of Youth Ministry Practices
