Loving and Serving Our Youths
Nicholas Quek has been our Ministry Worker focusing on the Youth Ministry since January 2025. He shares more about the goals and focus of the Youth Ministry, and how we, the church, can also support and love the youth.
Hi GBC, my name is Nicholas and I have been serving as the Youth Ministry Worker for the past three months.
Some of you might be wondering – what does the youth ministry do?
It is an important question to answer, since I am paid to help run it! Here are three main things that the youth ministry does.
Proclaim Christ
The youth ministry primarily exists to sow gospel seeds on the soil of youths’ hearts.
It is not always clear what kind of soil resides in the hearts of the youths. Sometimes, seemingly good soil is invaded by the weeds and thorns that come with young adulthood. Sometimes, seemingly hard soil is softened, whether dramatically or slowly, to receive the gospel.
Most of the time, those who pour into the youths will not see clear gospel fruit for months, even years. But Romans 10:17 teaches us that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Hence, we persevere in proclaiming the word of Christ to the youths, trusting that the Holy Spirit will till the soil of their hearts.
For this reason, most of our time together during our Saturday evening gatherings is spent studying the Bible. We trust that as God’s Word is proclaimed faithfully, Christ is revealed, and His sheep will hear His voice and come to Him. Twice a month, we will study a passage of Scripture together, usually either the passage being preached the coming Sunday, or the one preached the Sunday before.
Sometimes, we will also explore specific biblical topics to equip the youths with sound doctrine for holy living. In exploring these topics, we hope that youths who are Christians will grow in their faith, love, and trust in Jesus, and bear fruit for His glory. We also hope to persuade youths who aren’t Christians of the joy of our salvation in Christ Jesus, and call them to faith and repentance in Him.
Help build friendships and discipling relationships
The youth ministry is unabashedly fun (at least we hope to be). Most of our Bible studies begin with a time of snacks and games. We also have social gatherings at least once a month where we have a time of plain ol’ fun — so far we have done a trivia tournament, rock climbing, netball, and a board game night.
Fun is not the primary reason we hope the youths come, but we recognise that having fun together makes it easier to study the Bible together after. Fun and games also provide a great platform for friendships to be built between the youths as well as with the youth leaders. Strong friendships mean that youths want to come not just for the Saturday youth gatherings, but also the Sunday service, where we primarily gather as a church.
Games also give the leaders opportunities to peer into the hearts of the youths. Personalities – both good and bad – are often more clearly revealed over a game of Monopoly than in a Bible study. They allow us to see more clearly what things the youths care about, how they interact with other youths, and what pastoral issues or challenges they might be facing. This allows us to care for and disciple the youths more effectively as we bring God’s Word to bear on their lives.
We hope that through these discipling relationships, the youths can see and hear for themselves what following Jesus looks like. We believe that through these relationships, the youths gain a clearer understanding of how God speaks through His Word to His people, and how they respond to Him in faith and repentance.
Support parents
This is probably the least visible aspect of the ministry, but one that may impact the youths even more than our weekly gatherings. At the end of the day, we recognise that parents hold primary responsibility over their child’s spiritual discipleship (Eph 6:4, Pro 13:24, Heb 12:7). Hence, as a ministry we want to support and encourage parents as they raise their children in the training and instruction of the LORD.
This includes directing parents to good parenting resources, providing platforms for mutual encouragement, and keeping them abreast of youth ministry teaching for their own conversations with their children. We also work together with the EQUIP ministry to curate helpful classes that touch on issues relevant to parents of youths.
How can you support the youth ministry?
How can you support the youth ministry?
Ultimately, our main desire is for the youths to become disciples of Christ, who trust Him for salvation, and bear fruit for God’s glory. We do so through the ordinary means that God has provided for His people – the Word, prayer, and relationships in the church.
As church members, the best way you can support the youths is by taking advantage of those ordinary means. Build friendships with the youths and take an interest in their spiritual lives. Find opportunities to have spiritual conversations with them. If you see them on Sunday, ask them how they found service and share some of your own takeaways, especially from the sermon. Trust that God works through His Word, both over the pulpit and in the pews.
And God is gracious to work by answering our prayers, so pray for the following:
For the youths to hear the gospel and believe in Jesus
For us as a church to grow in loving and caring for the youths in our midst
For parents to receive encouragement and help from others in the church
For the leaders to be good models of faith who love the youths well
It has been a joy and privilege to serve the church and our youths in this role, and I pray that God will continue to use this ministry to gather His sheep, to the praise and glory of Jesus Christ, our great Shepherd.