NEWS FEATURE: Christian teens urged to combine service with evangelism

c. 1997 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ Brian Burke sat on his friend’s shoulders and snapped photos of the crowd of Christian youth gathered on the National Mall to hear Christian music and speeches, the highlight of a”DC/LA ’97″conference on teen evangelism. The 18-year-old recent high school graduate had come from Rochester Hills, Mich., to […]

c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Brian Burke sat on his friend’s shoulders and snapped photos of the crowd of Christian youth gathered on the National Mall to hear Christian music and speeches, the highlight of a”DC/LA ’97″conference on teen evangelism.

The 18-year-old recent high school graduate had come from Rochester Hills, Mich., to learn about evangelizing his peers. But he left the conference with a challenge to include community service in outward demonstrations of his faith.”Jesus went and fed thousands of people with fish,”he said, referring to the biblical story of Jesus feeding the multitudes.”He was out there doing community service and we should be doing community service, too.” The call to social action marked a turning point for”DC/LA,”an ongoing series of conferences sponsored by Youth for Christ, a Denver-based, international evangelical Christian organization. The triennial meetings _ held this year in Los Angeles in June and in Washington July 16-20 _ are billed as”Youth Evangelism SuperConferences.” The direct challenge to the junior and senior high students at the Washington conference came from evangelist Tony Campolo, who spoke after a drenching rain Friday (July 18) delayed the festivities for 45 minutes. The conference was held in the shadow of the U.S. Capitol.”Today I’m going to ask you to make a pledge to commit yourself to three hours of service a week,”said Campolo.”You can do it. You watch television 20 hours a week. Will you set aside three hours to serve Jesus Christ?” Many of the thousands of youth listening to Campolo stood and raised both hands to the sky in a pledge to do just that for the next six months.


The solemn moment was a serious contrast from the more fun-loving atmosphere that preceded Campolo. The young people _ some with hair tinted red or purple, others in baggy jeans or T-shirts with Christian themes _ danced and sang along with the Christian rock band Audio Adrenaline as they repeated the chorus,”Come and go with me to my Father’s house.” At a press conference, Campolo estimated that a total of 1.1 million hours of community service would result if all the estimated 29,000 students who attended the Los Angeles and Washington conferences heeded his call for community service.”A commitment to Jesus Christ inevitably translates into action that serves other peoples’ needs,”said Campolo, a sociology professor at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pa.”I can think of no better way of communicating to the world out there that we are serious Christians than translating that into concrete social action.” Campolo said the young peoples'”sacrificial service”might include visiting senior citizens in nursing homes, tutoring in after-school programs, working in soup kitchens or helping clean up the environment.

However, Campolo, an American Baptist, said community service should not replace evangelism.”The truth is that we refuse to separate the two,”he said.

In addition to the six-month commitment, the conference also pitched a three-year”Gotta Care”campaign. The campaign includes sharing the gospel with non-Christian friends and serving needy people in their communities, in addition to daily Bible reading and regular prayer.

Roger Cross, president of Youth for Christ/USA, acknowledged that his organization has been slow to emphasize social action.”We’re just realizing now that we must step forward in this area,”he said.”We understand that without the actions, maybe our words don’t mean very much.” Other signs of the students’ willingness to help others were also evident at the conferences.

In both Los Angeles and Washington, the young people pledged or donated money to help sponsor similar youth conferences in 25 foreign countries. Students attending the two conferences donated about $170,000 in cash and pledged $245,000 more, said Cari Allen, public relations director for Youth for Christ/USA.

For the first time, the students also were given an opportunity to sponsor a child in a poor country through Compassion International, a Christian child-development organization based in Colorado Springs, Colo. More than 2,400 teens signed up with that program during the two conferences, Allen said.

Jessica Sams, 16, and her boyfriend Matt Busick, 15, of Greensboro, N.C., jointly”adopted”a little boy from Mexico by pledging to pay $24 a month to help him get medical attention and to teach his parents about the gospel.”We want to make a difference in the world,”said Sams.”We want to let people know … that we care about others.” They said the DC/LA ’97 conferences also had prompted them to consider starting a club at their high school to link students with churches and to community projects.”God is awesome and with our faith, we can change the world around us,”said Sams, who is part of a nondenominational youth ministry in Greensboro with Busick.”We can change the community.” Gina Altidor, 16, a high school junior from Homestead, Fla., said she took Campolo’s pledge and hopes to restart a Bible study session in her public high school.


Altidor, a member of a Presbyterian Church in America congregation, said her public school has been encouraging students to do community service projects, but she is glad Christian groups like Youth for Christ also are serving as catalysts.”Our generation is not into doing things for people because we have so many things now _ computers, TV,”she said.”We don’t have time to take care of other people.” Altidor, who has volunteered in a local Youth for Christ project for elementary kids, said it’s important for Christian organizations to encourage students to do social action”for the glory of God.” (STORY CAN END HERE)

Other young people chose not to make a social-action pledge right away.

Kristian Opat, 17, a high school junior from Bethel Park, Pa., said he liked the challenge, but did not want to be locked into a specific time period.”I’m going to do what I can day by day,”said Opat, a member of an Episcopal Church youth group.”I think it should be a lifestyle.” Ursala Chase, 16, a high school junior from Bena, Minn., had a similar reaction.”I thought it was a good challenge, but I didn’t accept it because I have a job and I don’t have a car,”said Chase, who attends a Christian & Missionary Alliance church.”I am going to try. It may not be three hours. I think we should help people all the time anyways.”

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