The Zeal and Potential of Youth

by Alvin Reid

In Matthew 28, Jesus gave us the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion. We who follow Christ have been commissioned by our King to reach the world.

But how? 

It could be that the key to reaching America and our globe will be accomplished less by a tool and more by a movement. The Millennial generation could potentially hold the key to global evangelism. Why would I make such a claim? It has happened before.

In the 18th century in the American colonies, a dramatic number of conversions came out of the First Great Awakening. Much of the impetus of this revival came through a youth movement, according to leaders like Jonathan Edwards. Edwards referred to the role of the youth as awakening came to his church: “At the latter end of the year 1733, there appeared a very unusual flexibleness, and yielding to advice, in our young people.” Edwards wrote about the movement that saw half the town of Northampton come to salvation: 

God made it, I suppose, the greatest occasion of awakening to others, of anything that ever came to pass in the town…news of it seemed to be almost like a flash of lightning, upon the hearts of young people, all over town, and upon many others.

Beyond the impact the awakening had on young people, most of the leaders of the revival were touched by God while young. Edwards himself began his passionate pursuit of God as a child, and his precocious spiritual zeal became obvious in his teen years. 

The First Great Awakening would include the work of George Whitefield — in his twenties at the height of his influence — and the Log College of Presbyterian William Tennent. Tennent’s log house, built to provide ministerial training for three of his sons and other young men, developed key leaders of the awakening. The Log College, which ultimately evolved into the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) has been called “the forerunner of modern seminaries.”

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Second Great Awakening spread across the emerging United States. A major precipitating factor in this movement was the outbreak of revival on college campuses. Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia experienced the first in a series of college revivals. 

The Yale College revival began under the leadership of president Timothy Dwight, the grandson of Jonathan Edwards. The movement there spread to Dartmouth and Princeton. At Princeton, three-fourths of the students made professions of faith, and one-fourth entered the ministry.

The examples are almost endless. It is true that God uses people of all ages and backgrounds to accomplish his work. But in scripture, in history, and today, God has used and will use young people to spread his truth through their zeal, focus, and flexibility. If you want to reach your community and your world, you may want to start with the youth.

Alvin L. Reid (@alvinreid) is professor of evangelism and student ministry and Bailey Smith chair of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is author of As You Go: Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel-Centered Students. He loves encouraging the younger generation to live for Jesus. Learn more: www.alvinreid.com

Reach the Cities, Reach the Nations

by Alvin L. Reid

In 1906, San Francisco was hit by one of the most destructive earthquakes in history. In his book on the earthquake, The Crack in the Edge of the World, Simon Winchester observes that San Francisco was the major city on the West Coast at the time, much more influential than Los Angeles. But after the earthquake, L.A. (otherwise known as “the City of Angels”) soon began to grow in influence as people came there rather than San Fran.

One hundred years later, Los Angeles stands as the media capital of the world, arguably exerting more influence on popular culture than any city on earth. The effects of that earthquake in 1906 now reverberate throughout the world in the forms of music, television, and movies.

What if we witnessed a gospel movement in the cities that rivaled the rise of media influence in Los Angeles, or financial influence in New York?

What if the Church focused on reaching cities?

Cities are referred to in scripture some 724 times. Heaven is described as a city (Heb. 11:16). The early Church experienced remarkable gospel expansion via the cities of the Roman Empire, prompting sociologist Rodney Stark to observe that “Christianity was an urban movement, and the New Testament was set down by urbanites.”[1]

If we took a century-long look into the future and seriously sought to reach the major cities of the United States, it just might change the whole world. And we may not need an earthquake to see it happen.

Tim Keller, himself a pastor in New York, has argued that the most effective way for Christians to reach the U.S. for Christ would be for 25% of Christians to move to two or three of the largest cities and stay there for three generations. The cities of America influence the entire nation and the world. The entertainment centers of Los Angeles, New York City, and increasingly Nashville, affect cities globally. Other world cities like Chicago wield great influence as well.

But one does not reach a world city in our time in a year or a decade. One must look at a generation, or maybe two, to see real change. Boston is the major city of New England. When the Great Awakening hit Boston and New England, the colonies, and ultimately the young nation, reaped the benefit. As secularism and its impact have spread in Boston, one can see its growing influence.

In the summer of 2008, I took our daughter, Hannah, on a mission trip to Thailand. Spending time in Bangkok and Chiang Mai reminded me of how similar cities are globally. Seeing the vast numbers of people so in need of Christ can be staggering.

While there, I caught up with a former student who spent time in Pattaya, Thailand. She told me the wickedness there was visceral. I had already observed the child prostitution and glimpses of the awful sex trade industry. She informed me that Pattaya led the world in sex change operations.

Earlier, British band Bluetree had come to Pattaya to be part of an event with their church, featuring everything from live worship to cleaning the streets. More than 30,000 prostitutes fill this city, and the band saw the wickedness all around them. On one of the more vile streets, a club called the Climax Club advertised the need for a band to play. Aaron, the bandleader, explained what happened there:

We got the chance to play in this bar, a two-hour worship set in this bar. I don’t think the people in the bar spoke a word of English, but we basically got to go in. The deal was that we play and we bring a following of people with us; so we’re there, set up, really good gear! Amazing drums, the biggest drum kit you’ve ever seen in your life. . . . So we all set up, and there was like 20 Christians all standing in front of us, and the deal was we play, they buy lots of drinks, alright? I don’t think the place has ever sold so much Coke in its whole life in one night!

As they played, they watched people weep while they sang songs about Jesus. In the midst of their worship, Aaron began singing “greater things” over and over, broken for this wicked city. That night, in a club, they penned the words to a song that has reminded me many times that our God is Lord of the cities:

You’re the God of this city

You’re the King of these people

You’re the Lord of this nation You are

For there is no one like our God There is no one like our God

Greater things have yet to come

Great things are still to be done in this city

Greater things are still to come

And greater things are still to be done here

And that is my prayer, that we would see greater things done through the gospel in the cities of America, that the entire world would be influenced for Christ.

* Note: This blog piece was adapted from Reid’s book, Evangelism Handbook: Biblical, Spiritual, Intentional, Missional (Nashville: B&H), 2009.

Endnote

[1] Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (New York: HarperOne, 1997), 147.

Alvin L. Reid (@alvinreid) is professor of evangelism and student ministry and Bailey Smith chair of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is author of As You Go: Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel-Centered Students. He loves encouraging the younger generation to live for Jesus. Learn more: www.alvinreid.com