Recently I witnessed a youth group that blessed my heart. They brought about fifteen or twenty teenagers to camp. Among them were at least three teens who had never been saved. What I observed was a youth group where everyone was a part of the group. This was due partially to organization and partially to a good quality that had been developed in these young people.
On Monday morning of camp, they all had on matching t-shirts prepared just for the week of camp; they signed up to participate in the camp sports tournaments. Not everyone played, but everyone was part of the team whether they were a player or a fan. They all sat together in the auditorium. That was “their section.” When they were introduced as a group the night before, they all cheered. If you went to their cabins, you would have found all their church girls in one cabin, all their guys in another. That organization, some provided by the church and some provided by the camp program, all assisted the teens’ thinking as a unified body.
But that was just part of the aspect of their being a group. What I especially noticed was friendliness. Everyone seemed to interact with everyone else in the group. I asked the pastor about it, and he said that this was the way they were on a regular basis. In fact, he said that when visitors came to church for the first time, they were quickly welcomed as part of the group. That is a special type of friendliness.
One seventeen year old in the group especially caught my attention because he had a full, thick beard. I asked him to help me with an illustration I used in my message. It was only later that I found out he was not even saved yet. He had only been to the church a couple of times before he had come to camp that week. By Wednesday of the camp week, he had trusted Christ as his Savior. Why do you suppose that was? Certainly God spoke to his heart. No doubt the preaching helped him see the truth. But I suggest to you that he never would have been in the church long enough to be saved or make the trip to camp to hear those salvations messages if he had not been so welcomed by the group.
A friendly youth group makes a difference in winning young people to Christ.