I began writing this document when there were 45 days left before I was officially aged out of being counted as a Senior Youth in Adventist Youth Ministries (AYM for short). The age limit being 30 now. I was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church for all my life, actively participating in church activities and Youth activities for some of that time. Having gone intp the world and returned by God’s grace, I think it’s appropriate that I share with my brothers and sisters, young and young at heart, some key observances I have made. I also suggest a way forward as revealed in Scripture and the pen of Inspiration.
GC Session
After virtually attending a lot of the GC Session this year, particularly focusing on the Business Meeting, something about the proceedings and the comments from delegates during the session really bothered me. Since the GC Session is a very important meeting in the church (even what made us officially a church in 1863) and is a magnified version of local business and church board meetings, I observed two related flaws that stood out very plainly:
The mostly automatic “Yes” vote to agenda items; and
The number of delegates who followed orders given electronically.
These two flaws had me a little puzzled for a while. After a few days rest from those intense days of business meetings, I spent a couple days reading articles and going over reports of proceedings from Adventist news sites and YouTube channels. After speaking with some church brethren locally and a few across Malawi's borders, the Lord drew my attention to one of the biggest concerns I’ve had since coming back to the church in 2018: our army of youth.
I was a gamer, and there’s one thing that the majority of games train you to do without question; and that is to follow orders without reasoning them out and thereafter receive some reward for a job well done. A very handy tool to train soldiers and slaves of men. With my observations in mind I picked up my late father’s Revised 16th Edition of the Church Manual and pulled up the amendments made to the AYM during the GC Session and compared what had been added and subtracted. Three quotations from Ellen White’s writings used in the manual really stood out to me, two of which remain the same to this day in the manual. The first one comes from the General Conference Bulletin, Jan. 29,30, 1893, p24, which reads:
“We have an army of youth today who can do much if they are properly directed and encouraged. . . We want them to be blessed of God. We want them to act a part in well-organized plans for helping other youth.”
From the Bible text given before this quote, and reading 1 Timothy 4 in its entirety, the first two verses are what concern me as I’ve seen them fulfilled in my own life and sadly I have witnessed in the lives of my peers and our younger brothers and sisters now. Verse 12 is dependent on the spirit that is leading the youth, and verses 3 and 5 point to when they talk of “believing and knowing the truth”(v3) and being “sanctified by the word of God and prayer”(v5). What bothers me most are the eight words that were omitted from the original Ellen White quote above which are as follows:
“We want our children to believe the truth.”
Of all the sentences to leave out, to this day, this one is too crucial to ignore. This is what we want in the life of our youths right? To live with Christ as our pattern in all things, for He is The Way, The Truth and The Life according to John 14:6 . And in order to do that we would need to receive “the Spirit of truth” which Christ has promised us in John 14:16-17. With Christ in our lives we would be able to fulfill 1 Tim 4:8-12, for without Christ then v12 could be about living your best life, according to your own way. After all, what do we have to hide from ourselves or the world seeing as our GC Sessions, Annual Councils, even division meetings will now be on YouTube for all to see?
The second quote that stood out to me comes from Gospel Workers p210:
“When the youth give their hearts to God, our responsibility for them does not cease. They must be interested in the Lord’s work, and led to see that He expects them to do something to advance His cause.
“It is not enough to show how much needs to be done, and to urge the youth to act a part. They must be taught how to labor for the Master.They must be trained, disciplined,drilled, in the best methods of winning souls to Christ. Teach them to try in a quiet, unpretending way to help their young companions. Let different branches of missionary effort be systematically laid out, in which they may take part, and let them be given instruction and help. Thus they will learn to work for God.”
It is easy to simply tell someone to act a part, but where the rubber meets the road is in showing how to take part in the work given. Sadly, mentorship is sorely lacking for going about doing God’s work within church offices and in missionary work.
Was not Joshua under Moses’ wing for decades before taking his position as leader of the Israelites under God’s command?
Wasn’t Elisha by Elijah’s side for years before taking up his mantle?
Didn’t the 12 disciples have an intensive three-and-a-half year apprenticeship under the Good Shepherd Himself?
How do we expect overnight evangelists or Sabbath School teachers if they’re not learning under the wings of someone for more than an hour a week? What and how are we teaching them instead?
The third and final quote (which has been removed from the Church Manual) was not much to go on but just enough to know that God had given us instructions specifically on how to train our youth to be an army of Gospel workers. The quote is found in Counsels on Health, p537:
“Let there be a company formed somewhat after the order of the Christian Endeavor Society….”
What was this society that the prophetess of God called by name to learn from? Is this the only instance they were mentioned in her writings? Are they still around today? Did we live up to the counsel?
All these questions launched from these three statements regarding the training up of the youth of our church had to be investigated and conclusions drawn. I had to know whether the oft repeated quote from Education p271 had met or would possibly meet its fulfillment with the organization we have officially overruling all youth ministries in our church today:for Adventist Youth Ministries is Pathfinders.
Anyone who knows me knows that I can fall asleep very easily. Even in the heat of an exciting hack-n-slash 2-player game I used to play with my brother, I occasionally nodded off to sound sleep. The following quote that I found in the course of my research is what kept me awake when I’d normally be asleep. The quote is from Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students, p47:
“The future of society will be determined by the youth of today. Satan is making earnest, persevering efforts to corrupt the mind and debase the character of EVERY youth; and shall we who have more experience stand as mere spectators and see him accomplish his purpose without hindrance?Let us stand at our post as minutemen, to work for these youth, and through the help of God to hold them back from the pit of destruction. In the parable, while men slept the enemy sowed tares; and while you, my brethren and sisters, are unconscious of his work, Satan is gathering an army of youth under his banner; and he exults, for through them he carries on his warfare against God.”
Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. (John 8:31-32)
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Thandeka Moyo is an organic farmer with a heart for serving others and a newfound love for history. He lives in the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi where he spends most of his time tending to the garden or conducting personal research. He also tutors students conducts jobs in his pick-up truck.