Psalm 121: 1-3, 1 Pet 5: 6, Matt 25: 42

Steve Gambill

National statistics continue to show that young people growing up in Britain will be more abused, more addicted and more alienated than in any other nation in Europe. In fact the latest report by the United Nations Children's Fund claims that Britain is the worst place for children to live among all industrialised nations. Britain's young people have the worst relationships with their family and peers, suffered more from poverty and indulged in more "binge drinking" and hazardous sex than children in other wealthy nations, said the report.

Most youth workers become familiar all too quickly with the horrendous difficulties facing young people today. Causes such as the breakdown of the family unit, negative peer pressure, loss of innocence, availability of drugs and alcohol seem overwhelming. As a local church youth pastor I am all too familiar with these challenges.

Psalm 121: 1-3 says "I lift up my eyes to the hills - Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip.

After working more than 13 years in the UK in the same local church young people's ministry, I have learned to look in three areas... Look Up, Look In and Look out

1. Look Up

When I first moved to Bradford England from the USA, God began to shatter the stereotypes in my mind of what I thought youth ministry should be. Instead of focusing on the many problems young people face, I decided to fix my sight on the Lord.

Isaiah 43:19 says "See I am doing a new thing!" I realized that because God was doing a new thing in my life I would also need new thinking.

Looking Up requires a focus on what we can do for God instead of what we can't do. It was then that I discovered awesome ministries like Hillsong United, Planetshakers, Teenmania and The Message. I realized that if God can do that with young people in other cities, He can do it my city.

At that time we had virtually no musicians, resources or people even interested in youth ministry. When I looked at my present situation I was quickly depressed because of the overwhelming need, but when I looked up I found peace, patience and motivation to keep going. Stop looking at your need and look to the God who supplies all your needs in Christ!

Today as I look back over a decade of youth ministry and see a thriving ministry I am so encouraged...yet as the old song goes "we have only just begun".

2. Look In

After looking up it is vital that we look in and examine our own lives. The difference between wishful thinking and world changing faith relies on our ability to keep growing in God. Investing in you is one of the great keys to longevity in ministry. I like to think that inside your local church, is a church of one. You! How is your church going? Is it growing?

Our ministry can only grow as large as we can become. How can I be a better leader? A better person? How can I be more generous, more empowering and more releasing? Questions like these are not easy to face. But the cost of not facing up to them is worse.

At first when I began to examine myself, I didn't like what I found. My thinking towards ministry was in a box. I thought that if you really wanted to make a difference in people's lives you needed to be either a Senior Pastor or a Worship Pastor. I took singing lessons, bought all the latest Christian worship cd's and tried hard to be a worship leader. One Sunday morning after leading worship I had to face the fact that I had forgotten most of the words, sung badly out of tune and ran out of steam after the first song!

So then I thought "I must be a senior pastor." I will spare you those mistakes for times sake, but after years of trying to be who I wasn't, I decided to be myself.

1 Pet 5: 6 'Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may LIFT you up in due time.'

I am convinced that God wants to lift YOU up. Not who you think you should be...but you! He is more committed to your success and your effectiveness than you can imagine.

In all the business of life, taking time to refuel is vital if you want to have enough petrol to reach your dream. I'm not there yet, but I am going in the right direction. In order to reach my destination, I have separated my life into seven areas.

• Health


• Close family


• Relationships/friendships


• Financial


• Career/Ministry


• Contribution to others


• Personal development

Every 90 days I take a good look at each area to see how I am doing in life. Setting personal targets helps me to track my own growth. Over this past 90 days, I have exercised more, taken a family short break together with our two young children, had many people over to our home, decided to buy a new house, visited our sponsored children in Kenya with Compassion and even taken a hot air balloon ride over the Masai Mara.

3. Looking Out!

In Matt 25: 42 Jesus said 'For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

In our ministry I am continually challenged by these words of Jesus. Together with our RN team we are building a youth ministry that looks out for every kind of young person. Today we have many ministries that tap into the interests of young people.

• Skate park ministry


• Basketball ministry


• Dance


• Football Ministry


• Music Ministry


• Latte/food ministry


• Finance Ministry


• Makeup/Hair and Nails Ministry


• Dj Ministry


• Welcome team Ministries


• Counseling Ministries


• Prison Ministry


• Media Ministries

Some of these ministries are based on trends that we will tap into only as long as they are current. One of the first ministries that we started years ago was Country Western Line-Dancing but thank God that has gone way out of fashion today!

By using current interests many of our Christian young people have been able to invite their friends to church. At the moment, it's "Mad March at the Movies" every Friday night at ALC. There are movie posters and full size movie stands everywhere. The coming attractions are made into a three minute video and the announcements are done to a live camera by a news reader and relayed to screens. Young People with tray filled with Popcorn and sweets are wandering through the auditrouim. The Welcome team have flashlights to escort visitors to their seats. Throughout the messages relevant movie clips are being used one of which I would like to leave with you now.

In the film Barnyard Ben the cow decides that he is going to take a stand against the coyotes who are seeking to devour the animals. So, Johnny Cash style he grabs a guitar and sings.

"I won't back down, you can stand me up at the gates of Hell but I won't back down. Gonna stand my ground, won't be turned around, Gonna keep this world from dragging me down, gonna stand my ground."

Stand your ground youthleader. Let's turn this generation from the gates of Hell and look to God to see Great Britain become home to some of the greatest youth ministries on the planet in the years to come.