Young
Adult's Fellowship
Eden Baptist Church
Single adults are one of the fastest
growing demographics in America. Only 2%
of the adult population was single in
1900. Today that figure is nearing 40%.
Young married couples are generally
waiting longer to have children. These
societal trends are reflected in the
growth of EBC, commending the
articulation of a philosophy for
ministering to, and through, young
adults who do not currently have the
responsibilities inherent to marriage
and/or child-raising.
Single adult ministries in many
evangelical churches today are
structured primarily to provide social
fulfillment. To combat loneliness and to
encourage marriage among singles, many
such ministries are weighted to provide
entertainment, adventure, and
opportunities to "hang out" with other
singles. Ministries to young married
couples are often similarly designed.
A major weakness of this common approach
is that it is self-focused. Group
activities are based primarily on the
felt needs and desires of the members
with little or no thought given to
people outside the group. This inward
gaze tends to isolate young adult groups
from the rest of the assembly. Such
segregation weakens the church and also
stifles the spiritual growth of the
young adult.
What is the Mission of Our Young Adult's
Ministry?
The
mission of the young adult's fellowship
of EBC is to encourage singles and young
married couples without children to
glorify God by loving him and others
with all their heart. To this end the
young adult's fellowship seeks to
provide opportunities for:
-
active
service as the body of Christ
-
spiritual
edification as disciples of Christ
-
evangelization of those separated from
Christ
Why Emphasize
Service?
1.
Active service to others is God's design
for the local church.
-
According to Ephesians 4:11-16, Jesus
desires local churches to equip
believers by means of biblical
instruction in order to fulfill works of
service. The goal is not to generate
busyness. The goal is that by gaining
knowledge of Christ and serving others,
the local church will mature in the
faith and progress in unified conformity
to the image of Jesus. Knowledge of
Christ and active service as a unified
body is a process whereby the church
body matures in Christ.
2.
God issues to singles a unique call
to active service.
-
1
Corinthians 7:20-35 presses the point
that singleness provides an
extraordinary opportunity for
single-minded investment in the cause
of Christ.
-
In
contrast to married couples, singles
are free from the complicating
concerns and distractions inherent to
marital relationships. Singles are at
far greater liberty to invest
undivided attention in the work of
God.
-
Married
couples are more divided in their
service to Christ than are single
adults. However, a married couple
without children is perhaps closer in
ministry capacity to singles than they
are to married couples with children.
3.
Serving others is a powerful antidote
to the unique pitfalls of singleness.
-
Serving
others in active obedience to Christ
counteracts the loneliness and
self-absorption that so naturally
characterizes singles. Those who
genuinely place the interests of
others ahead of their own interests,
will experience joy and fulfillment as
Jesus did when he set this model for
us (John 13:1-5, 12-17; Phil 2:3-5).
4.
Meaningful relationships are forged
when people serve side by side.
-
Serving
Jesus with another believer provides a
unique opportunity to see the
character of that person in action.
Routine, mutual ministry activities
provide a healthy environment in which
men and women can "see below the
surface" and learn to appreciate
others for more than outward
appearance and charismatic personality
which are afforded such inflated value
in purely social settings or dating
relationships.
What Means Do
We Use in the Pursuit of Our Mission?
The
young adult’s fellowship of EBC seeks to
serve and edify the body of Christ and
to evangelize the lost by use of the
following means:
-
Sunday
Afternoon Fellowships:
We organize ourselves to
systematically host fellowship meals
with families in the church so as to
serve and edify others, to gain wisdom
from those whose life-orientation is
distinct from ours, and to actively
integrate our lives with the larger
body.
-
Service
Activities:
Projects are scheduled in which we
lend physical service to others.
Included are projects such as helping
a family paint their home, rake
leaves, clean windows, etc. This may
involve assisting the needy or elderly
in some way, or simply blessing one of
our church families or neighbors.
Involvement in the semi-annual,
all-church work days is another
important service activity.
-
Church
Ministries:
As God opens the door, young adults
are encouraged to find involvement in
such ministries as Sunday School,
small group discipleship, Vacation
Bible School, Nursery, choir, ministry
activities, etc.
-
Church
Fellowships:
It is vital for young adults to
participate in all-church activities.
Men’s Breakfast, Women’s Brunch,
Winter and Summer Retreats, work days,
etc, provide crucial opportunities to
develop mutually edifying
relationships with other church
members.
-
Evangelistic Outreach and Missions
Trips:
Active evangelism is encouraged with a
particular emphasis on engaging
individuals in one-on-one Bible study.
Emphasis is also placed on inviting
unbelievers to participate with the
group so as to see the love of Christ
in action. The young adult’s
fellowship periodically organizes a
trip to assist another ministry in the
advance of the gospel.
Concluding
Remarks
-
The
young adult's fellowship of EBC longs
to exalt Jesus Christ and to grow in
our relationship with him. If our
orientation is primarily social,
participation in this group will hinge
on self-interest. But if our
orientation hinges on our mutual love
for Jesus, this transcendent
relationship will bind us to one
another in love and allow us as a
group to edify the body of Christ.
-
It
follows on the preceding point that we
must ever seek to blend with and to
encourage the entire assembly. Each of
us should seek to edify the children
of the assembly. We should seek
meaningful friendships with married
couples. We should seek wisdom from
those who are more mature in the faith
than are we. We should work
shoulder-to-shoulder with others. We
must learn to value the vital
involvement of godly church members in
our lives - to seek and to welcome
accountability and spiritual guidance.
Young adults who attend only young
adult activities fail to benefit from
vital involvement in the body of
Christ. The inevitable result is
spiritual anemia.
-
We must
remember that life as citizens of
God's kingdom is not all about us.
Whatever we can do to keep our focus
on Jesus and others will help us avoid
the snare of self-orientation and
disinterest in others which is so
radically averse to the spirit and
will of Jesus (Matt 22:34-40).
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