This research is concerned with the complex situation in which the youth of the
Christ Church Lahore find themselves. One of the key problems is that the youth do
not have a sound knowledge of the Bible, which makes them less effective in
witnessing in a Muslim country like Pakistan.
After a brief introduction of Pakistan and the province Punjab, the research
examined the countryâs famous cites Lahore with reference to aspects such as the
historical and modern Lahore, people and population, history and culture, language
and education. The history of the Christ Church Lahore and its youth, as well as the
history of the youth ministry laid a firm foundation for the study.
It has been observed that the adolescents of the Christ Church have been neglected,
and this causes serious problems in their spiritual growth. The youth do face
challenges and issues. They are also trying to find their true identity in Christ.
Recognizing the basic needs of the young people will make the church in general
and the Christ Church Lahore in particular aware how to care for their teens and to
value this ministry.
Five functions of the youth ministry, namely worship, prayer, fellowship, discipleship
and evangelism or mission are highlighted to bring the adolescents into a
relationship with God.
It was necessary to develop a contextual youth ministry model for the youth of the
Christ Church while studying different models. The emphasis was on creating a
model which was Biblically based and culturally appropriate. In this regard, the key
factors / principles were pointed out.
For the youth of the Christ Church to operate in an effective way, the following points
were provided, namely the importance of the election and responsibilities of the
youth leadership team, an intergenerational youth ministry concept and the value of
a vision, goals and programmes. The research also shows that family support (parents) is important for the spiritual
growth of teens. A lack of family support hinders them in attending youth meetings
regularly and in being available for the work of the Lord.
The researcherâs interviews with the youth group, the leading pastor and members of
the congregation helped to examine the real situation of the youth with their
challenges and issues.
The study confirms that the youth of the Christ Church need proper attention.
Besides help to face their challenges and obstacles, they need youth ministry
training and a discipleship process to equip them for an effective and fruitful ministry.
The research also reveals that equipped youth leaders are needed to mentor and
lead the young people. Without a supportive team or leadership team, the youth of
the Christ Church will not survive.
Throughout the research, it is emphasized that the youth are not the church of
tomorrow but indeed the church of today. We cannot ignore them in the church.
The topics and subtopics in this study are obviously areas that need independent
and extensive research. However, the researcher has incorporated them in order to
draw the true picture and examine the issues that the youth are facing.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-09042009-112256 |
| Date | 04 September 2009 |
| Creators | Yousaf, Aneel |
| Contributors | Prof J Janse van Rensburg |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-09042009-112256/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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