The Zeal of Youth
“The work has been chiefly amongst the young; . . . few others have been made partakers of it. And indeed it has commonly been so, when God has begun any great work for the revival of his church; he has taken the young people, and has cast off the old and stiff-necked generation.” Jonathan Edwards, commenting on the First Great Awakening
Much has been written and said in recent days about young leaders. I have great interest in the topic since I spend my life as a minister teaching young leaders for the church. We need the wisdom of the aged. But we also need the zeal of youth.
I recently spoke at a conference in a state convention where we heard that 90% of senior pastors in that state are over 40. That is not an encouraging statistic. As I heard that, I thought of the people God has used before age 40. First, the list in Scripture is likely longer than you think. Here are only a few examples:
Isaac – as a young man trusted his father, submitting himself even to the verge of death
Joseph at 17 — sold by his brothers into slavery, yet all he did was live for God
Miriam – risked her own life to watch over baby Moses
Joshua — a “young man” when he served at the right hand of Moses
Samuel — a lad when he heard the voice of God in a day when the word of the Lord was rare
David – an older teen when he fought Goliath
Jeremiah – called of God to be a prophet as a youth
Josiah – led a revival in Judah in his 20s
Daniel and his friends – stood up to the king of Babylon when only a youth
Esther – as a young lady became queen and risked her life to save the Jews
Mary – likely a teen when she bore the Lord (who Himself ministered in His early 30s)
Timothy – became a leader of the early church while recognized as still a “youth”
When we look beyond the biblical times, many of those used by God in significant points historically were young. Examples:
Jonathan Edwards — in his early 30s when the First Great Awakening hit Northampton
George Whitefield — in his mid-twenties when he preached up and down the American colonies, helping to ignite the flame of the Great Awakening.
John and Charles Wesley — college students when they began meeting in what would be dubbed the Holy Club
Samuel Mills and others — college students at Williams College when he proposed a mission to Asia; this “haystack revival” planted the seed of modern foreign missions in the United States;
Charles Spurgeon — in his 20s when God began working mightily at his church in London
Robert Murray McCheyne and David Brainerd — both remembered for their ministries to this day (McCheyne as a pastor and Brainerd as a missionary); both died before age 30
Jim Elliot and friends — martyred by the Auca Indians in their young adult years
Evan Roberts — in his twenties when the Welsh Revival came
Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf — in his twenties when the Moravian Prayer Revival began
I could give many other examples. In fact, I have a book coming out in about a month called Join the Movement that will. My simple point is this: at critical times of change in Scripture and in the history of the church, God often uses young adults for His glory and to make changes necessary for the furtherance of the gospel, from the use of small group Bible study by Philip Spener in early Pietism, to the field preaching of the Wesleys and Whitefield (a scandalous method to many in the established church who were blinded by their institutionalism, but one which took the gospel to the masses), to the use of newer forms of music in the Jesus Movement (still a scandal to many today J), young adults have often been more open to changes needed to share Christ in a given culture.
I am grateful I teach at a school that does not only talk about and train younger leaders. We employ them. Bruce Ashford, whom I met as a senior in college my first year at SEBTS, heads our Center for Great Commission Studies. Dr. Ashford and I are about to embark as a ministry team in churches, especially in college towns. Pete Schemm, several years my junior (at 47 I no longer qualify as a young leader, alas) serves as dean of our college. We have numerous faculty and staff in key roles in their thirties. We have some older, wiser folks, but we also have plenty of younger leaders as well.
We need the sage advice of the seasoned. But God also give us the zeal of youth.