The Challenges and Joys of Sharing the Faith with Children and Teenagers

By Walter Fenton

There is universal agreement in the Global Methodist Church that passing down the good news of Jesus Christ to children and teenagers is one of the Church’s highest responsibilities. And it is also widely acknowledged that the challenges facing it are deep and diverse when it comes to fulfilling that responsibility.

In central and eastern Europe, small GM local churches are trying to build solid foundations after decades of Communist rule when they were nearly driven to extinction. Local churches with diminished resources in rural communities and inner cities in the United States are struggling to attract and retain young families. And in a number of countries in Africa, local churches face heartbreaking decisions as they try to find ways to minister to children and teens in very difficult conditions.

Recently, three regional leaders shared their observations on the immense challenges local churches face as they seek to disciple children and teens, and then a professor in Christian Discipleship offered some practical advice for addressing them.

“The challenges are numerous,” say the Rev. Dr. Henriette Lokoto Okele, the Global Methodist Church’s Presiding Elder for the Kinshasa District in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Provisional Annual Conference. “Severe poverty, political instability, armed conflicts, harsh labor conditions, and internal strife among Christian denominations are just some of the challenges we face.”

Yet despite all the challenges, Lokoto Okele and the local churches she oversees in Kinshasa, persevere in the mission to teach children and teenagers the faith and provide for their physical and emotional needs. She serves in the DRC’s capital city, which is also the country’s largest with over 17 million people. The median age in the country is 15.8 years, making it one of the world’s youngest populations.

“We are churches striving to transmit the faith to children and adolescents through the time-honored ways of Sunday schools and Bible studies adapted to each age group,” she said. “Despite the difficulties, the churches are showing creativity and perseverance, and using new technologies as they become available to us. The commitment of our members, the collaboration between local churches, and innovative ideas to support families are nourishing hope. We believe Christian education must be at the heart of our communities.”

The Rev. Dr. Gabriella Kopas, the president pro tem of the Slovakia Provisional Annual Conference, notes that local churches in her conference do not face challenges like those in the DRC, but it does contend with issues that nearly all faith communities in central and eastern Europe must confront.

Since its founding as part of Czechoslovakia at the close of the World War I, Slovakia has faced significant challenges over the past century. It lost its independence during World War II, regained it briefly, but then succumbed to the domination of the Soviet Union for five decades. It became an independent nation in 1993 when it peacefully separated from the Czech Republic just four years after breaking away from Communist rule during the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989. Consequently, Slovakian Global Methodists, along with other Protestant denominations, are still trying to find their footing in a country that has only experienced religious freedom for 35 years, and where the majority of the population identifies as Roman Catholic.

“Our local churches typically have children participate in worship with everyone else until the sermon, and then their teachers lead them in a time appropriate for their ages,” she said. “Teens tend to stay during the services with the adults and then have a special meeting during the week. Since our churches are scattered around the country we try to organize at least one opportunity for all of our teens to meet in one place, usually during the summer.”

In addition to leading the annual conference, Kopas also serves as the lead pastor of a local church in Bratislava, the country’s capital city. Like many European countries, the fertility rate in Slovakia is below the 2.1 necessary to sustain its current population.

“Some of our churches are completely lacking families with small children, and some will have only one or two children, so they do not have any programs for them,” said Kopas. “However, like local GM churches around the world, we are energized and look forward to finding new ways to share the Gospel with people young and old. It will take time, but I firmly believe we will reach more young families with children and teenagers.”

Some local churches in the GM Church’s Upper Midwest Provisional Conference in the U.S. can relate to the dearth of young families in central and eastern Europe. The conference spreads across a vast geographical area that includes the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. And while some of the states have seen population increases over the past two decades, most towns and cities remain small and dispersed across the vast northern plains of the U.S.

Many of our local churches face a conundrum when it comes to ministry with children and teenagers,” said the Rev. James Park, the conference’s president pro tem and co-lead pastor with his wife Helen Parks at Marion Methodist in Marion, Iowa. “Local churches sense they need a critical mass of kids to draw in other kids, but how do you get a critical mass, without a critical mass?”

Parks also notes that since most small to mid-size churches do not have a staff person dedicated to children’s ministry, they have to rely on volunteers who are willing, but do not always have the time or energy to build a solid children’s or youth program.

According to Dr. Ellen Marmon, Professor of Christian Discipleship at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, the issues Lokoto Okele, Kopas, and Parks raise are ubiquitous in worldwide denominations.

“So many times we can overwhelm ourselves in small churches by trying to create a big program without the people to sustain it,” she said. “Children and teenagers, at least in the U.S., can get all the entertainment and bells and whistles and fog machines they want in many places, but what they can’t get that a local church can offer is the opportunity to hang around people of all ages. That’s very unique about the church, and we often overlook it.”

Marmon, who served on staff at Centenary United Methodist Church in Lexington, Kentucky for 16 years prior to joining the Asbury faculty full time in 2005, hastened to add that local churches do have to offer something to children and teens. And they should lean into their strengths, and one is being a hospitable, intergenerational community. She notes that this is something people in Europe and the U.S. have less of as families shrink in size. There are fewer older siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents to surround young people. The church, she contends, can and should fill that void.

“There’s really nothing more engaging, no matter where you are or how small your church is, than a welcoming and hospitable community,” said Marmon who has taught discipleship in Kenya and worked with local church leaders in Australia, New Guinea, and India. “And this is where prayer is so important. As predictable as it sounds, it all starts with preparing our hearts in prayer; to make them ready to be the aunts and uncles and the grandmas and grandpas that so many children and teenagers need in their lives.”

Pastors, church leaders, or just people who are passionate about sharing the Gospel with young people can learn about creating multi-generational churches by reading books on the subject. Marmon recommended InterGenerate, a collection of essays edited by Holly Catterton Allen and Reimaging Faith Formation for the 21^st Century: Engaging All Ages and Generations by John Roberto. She says both books have good ideas that churches of any size can implement.

“I really think churches can ask children to invite a friend; they all know other children, so half of the challenge is fairly simple,” said Marmon. “But of course they need something to invite their friends to, and that’s where starting simple comes in, like having a monthly or bi-weekly potluck after church where one or two adults sit and eat with groups of four or five young people. It will be awkward at first, but that’s to be expected, just ask their parents. But in time I find people are surprised at how readily children and even teens are willing to talk about themselves, particularly those who are a bit on the margins at school.”

Finally, Marmon emphasized that local churches should remember they are in the work of passing down the faith for the long haul. Pouring one’s life into even one or two young people will yield an increase in time. Followers of Christ should be thankful for every opportunity God gives them to share the gospel with the next generation.

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The Rev. Walter Fenton is the Global Methodist Church’s Deputy Connectional Officer.