Todays episode; Use them now. We often tell our young people that they are the church of tomorrow, but truth is they are the leadership in the church tomorrow, but they are part of the church today. As a matter of fact the young people in your church are the life of the church today.

Growing up I learned the importance of having “ownership” in a persons family. This is true with a church member too. If a person feels like it’s ‘their church’ they will be proud of it. It is important to give your young people ownership in the church they attend.

Part of the way you can do this is by giving them responsibilities in the church. This may mean you need to find something for them to do, and this may take extra effort on your part, but it pays off in the end.

As you give them something to do there are four things to be mindful of:

1. Let them fail;
   1. Although I think it is important to allow them to try and fail, it is hard for them to walk away with a fail. I often find a way to pick them up right away after the failure so they understand the failure, yet have a success too.
2. Be intentional about giving them something to do;
   1. Let others know what you are doing. It may also be a great idea to let them know why you are doing it.
3. Help them succeed;
   1. Our goal is to equip them with everything we need. Like a manager in a boxers corner, we want them to win. Our goal is to help them succeed. As I said earlier we need to allow them to fail when failure comes, but our goal is to help them succeed.
4. Let them be who they are;
   1. Unfortunately, we often try to make our young people a min me. I remember when I found my voice as a preacher. I naturally became funny. I didn’t mean to do this, it just seemed to be the real me coming out. However, my mentor was very serious and a powerful preacher. At times I felt I was letting him down because I didn’t have the same style that he did, but he never said a word. He was good at letting me be myself.

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