This past week, 34 Browncroft students and leaders traveled to Houghton University for five days of Never the Same Camp (NTS). They gathered alongside 600 students and leaders from other churches in the Rochester/Buffalo area to grow in community with each other and with God. I was blessed with the opportunity to participate in this experience with them, and let me tell you, the things I witnessed during this week were eye-opening:
There was one night I went to bed at 12:30am because, for two and a half hours, students gathered after the main large group session to praise and worship God. They picked up guitars, sat on coffee tables, and lifted their hands and voices for hours. Other teens shared their testimonies, and I witnessed hundreds of them laying hands on each other in prayer. Teenagers from different churches, denominations, and ages prayed for each other, linking arms and singing, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Jesus reigns!”
Our teens are not JV Christians, but powerful Jesus followers who desire to earnestly do the will of God.
Throughout the week, I saw high school girls introducing their friends to God’s Word and committing to start prayer groups in their schools. I saw middle school boys confessing sins to one another and seeking support. I saw middle school girls washing the feet of their peers and praying the name of Jesus over them.
I personally had multiple conversations with our Browncroft high school guys that, before this week, I would have thought I could only have with church staff. The depth of their understanding and the thoughtfulness of their faith, the authenticity of their commitment to Jesus– it is all so much deeper than you’d ever expect. But by this point, I have actually come to expect it, and you should too.
Why? Because the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in them. The same power that changed the world and pushed back the darkness is living and active within them. Our teens are not JV Christians, but powerful Jesus followers who desire (more than many adults) to earnestly do the will of God. If you saw what I saw this week, you’d quickly realize Satan is looking upon the faith of our teens and shuddering.
On the last day of camp, I talked with Jeff Eckert, founder of NTS Camp, who has traveled the country doing ministry and speaking with pastors worldwide. He told me, “We need to open our eyes and realize the amazing things God is doing in this generation. In the UK, in Africa, and here in the US, all of them are experiencing a revival, and it’s the real deal.”
That is why we need teenagers. We need to get to know them and value them, not for their good, but for ours.
That is why we need teenagers. We need them for the edification of the body of Christ and for the edification of Browncroft as a whole. We need their help to build and spread God’s Kingdom. We need to get to know them and value them, not for their good, but for ours. I genuinely believe we have it backwards. We often assume it’s the adults who challenge teens in their faith (or worse: that teens get in the way of adults’ spiritual growth). But what if the most challenging, convicting, and soul-stretching experience for adults at Browncroft and beyond is actually the unwavering, inspiring, and unstoppable faith of our teens?
We need to start thinking this way. In a world that infantilizes and undervalues teenagers, I pray that Browncroft is a church that sees their energy, authenticity, and passion to serve Jesus as a powerful witness for the glory of God.
After all, Jesus changed the world with a group of teenagers.
