Young People Want to Learn About Jesus!
It may come as a surprise to some that there is an increased interest to learn about Jesus among teenagers today.
Back when I was in high school, which wasn’t that long ago, it felt like there was less of an openness to Christianity and religion in general. It was easy to find people who would criticize Christianity and hard to find those who had an openness to talk about their faith. While there are still plenty of people opposed to Christianity, the tone around spiritual conversations the past few years has shifted. The Barna Group published a study this year that said, 52% of teens in the US are “very motivated” to learn about Jesus, and that number increases to 77% for those who are at least “somewhat motivated” to learn about Jesus.
Statistics can be helpful, but they are also limited in telling us what is really happening in people’s lives. So, I wanted to share one example of how I’ve seen the Lord recently working among teens here in Vancouver.
This past year I have been helping a student led, Christian club once or twice a week at Mt. View High School. Two of the high school leaders at the club received the Lord because of the club a couple of years ago and are on fire to share him with others at school. The past few months have been really difficult at Mt. View after two of their students have taken their life since the end of the last school year. In response, during the lunch periods on Thursdays this month we’ve had anywhere from 50-80 students show up to have gospel conversations, and from what I can tell, most of them are non-believers. At each of these lunch periods, Bibles are opened, students lead discussion on different verses and topics, and students are prayed for. There is an interest and desire to talk about spiritual things, and a lot of the high school students are asking deep questions.
While there are many students willing to talk about Jesus, there are still so many of them who aren’t yet willing to commit their life to Him or start attending a local church. My hope and prayer is that we would continue to see an increase not only in students willing to talk about Jesus, but in students wanting to commit their lives to the Lord!
Who is a young person you can pray for this week that you hope to see come to know Jesus personally? Who is a young person you might be able to share with about the hope you have in Jesus? Jesus said in Luke 10:2, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And it is just as true today as it has ever been!
Jacob Abrahamson
Youth Pastor