USA (MNN) – Thousands of young adults are leaving the church, but raising teen leaders for evangelism may change this statistic.
Lifeway research reported in January that 66% of young adults between 18 and 22 stopped attending church regularly for at least a year.
E3 partners is changing this by working with teens to train them on spreading the Gospel and becoming Christian leaders.
Jeff Johnston from e3 says, “Ultimately, God can use anyone to spread His kingdom.”
He adds, “We think that, especially with kind of the numbers that we’re seeing, as far as people in the United States walking away from the faith, after… they graduate high school, we think that there’s an emphasis that needs to be placed on raising up strong Christian leaders at a young age.”
To do this, e3 works with churches to provide evangelism training, called “4 fields training“. This training works for those wanting to evangelize on a mission trip or in their own community.
Teens Spreading the Gospel
(Photo courtesy of E3 Partners)
Teens have many opportunities to spread the Gospel in their daily lives, Johnston explains. They can ask to pray for others, start Bible study groups, and share God’s Word with those around them.
“There can be this misconception that you really can’t start evangelizing, you really can’t start making a big impact for the kingdom, until you’ve gotten out of youth group and gotten into the real world,” Johnston says.
But e3 wants to give teens the chance to not just listen to church sermons but participate in discipling others.
Johnston says, “We want to give [teens] every opportunity to grow in their faith and grow in their boldness and their confidence in Christ.”
For teens at a church in Oklahoma, spreading the Gospel became a calling after attending a mission trip.
“They started finding opportunities at their schools, to share the gospel with people, to pray with people, to really just get into these relationships with people and help point them to Jesus,” Johnston says.
One girl, Allie, has already reached 70 people with the Gospel in her neighborhood.
Johnston adds, “She prays every morning for God to lead her to the people whose hearts are open and ready to receive the gospel that day.”
“It was incredible to hear her talk about that,” he says.
(Photo courtesy of Eliott Reyna via Unsplash)
If you want to know more about working with e3 click here to partner with them as a church, or here to find out what upcoming mission trips they have.
You can also pray. Pray for the work e3 does as they train teens and young adults to become mature Christians. Pray for those spreading the Gospel around the world and in their own communities.
Johnston says, “If there does happen to be any students that hear this, that are feeling called… I would encourage them to ask their pastors at their church about it, or to pray about it.”
He adds, “Contact us and we’ll see how we can help you with whatever you’re feeling called to do.”
Header photo courtesy of E3 Partners.
