As the Church continues to make disciples of all nations–particularly outside of the West–the reality is that children and youth comprise large percentages of the populations of those peoples. The present and future realities for the Church must involve young people to a significant degree. One quarter of the world’s population is under the age of fifteen years. And those between fifteen and twenty-four–“youth” as defined by the United Nations–make up one billion people. Put the categories of children and youth together and we have a massive number of people. 
In this post, I am continuing the series related to my forthcoming book Pressure Points: Twelve Global Issues Shaping the Face of the Church. You may find the previous posts in this series linked below.
For those of us in the more developed part of the world, we are likely to give little thought to this global reality of children and youth. We live in an area whereby 16% of the population is considered children. However, if we look at the least developed nations, we come to the reality that children comprise 41% of the populations. Here is the estimated youth population (15-24) of selected regions of the world:
- South Asia 26%
- Southeast Asia/Pacific 18%
- East Asia 17%
- Arab regions 20%
- Africa 20%
Children and youth are some of the most vulnerable people on the planet. Poverty, poor education, poor health care, trafficking, pornography, inequality, street life/gangs, and child labor are just some of the ills of society that often engulf the young of the world. In certain parts of the world, many children find themselves without one or more parents–and without any social support system to adequately care for them. How is the Church to minister in contexts where the median and average ages are very young? How does this affect future church leadership? How does the Church care for the children who have recently come into the Kingdom?
In all areas of the world, the Church must work to equip everyone–especially the children and youth–for the global task of making disciples. This involves training them in the way of the Lord that they may take the gospel to their social networks. It also means casting a vision before them to obtain marketable degrees and skills to best position them as church planters whether they serve in Oklahoma City, Orlando, Oaxaca, Oqatsut, or Obbia. The Church is wise to shepherd the young through such future planning–not leaving such life-altering decisions to the whims of youthful desires or secular guidance counselors. How we teach, model, and create an atmosphere of expectation for Kingdom advancement is critical to the future of global disciple making. The children and youth of today are key to moving the Church from the professionalization of the clergy and the clergy-laity dichotomy that is omnipresent.
Pressure Points is scheduled to release from Thomas Nelson on July 16. It is available for pre-order here.
Pressure Point #8 Growth of Cities
Pressure Point #6 Globalization
Pressure Point #5 International Migration
Pressure Point #4 Pluralism and the Plurality of Faiths
Pressure Point #3 Growth of the Majority World Church
Pressure Point #2 The West as a Mission Field
Pressure Point #1 Unreached Peoples
(image credit: Microsoft Office)
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