Publisher's Synopsis
God called me with three mandates. One of them was to: "Give Youths a sense of purpose and achievement." As at the time of this writing, I have been involved in Teens and Youths ministry for thirty three (33) years. I started out in 1982 as Assistant Secretary/ Librarian, Student Christian Movement (SCM) University of Nigeria, Enugu campus. I set up fellowship library during my tenure. I served as State General Secretary Nigerian Christian Coppers Fellowship (NCCF) Niger State. I preached my first open air crusade as a Youth Corper in 1984. I was appointed as a Youth Pastor in First Baptist Church after my service year. When I later joined Foursquare Gospel Church, Shomolu in 1986, I served variously as Membership Chairman, Organizing Secretary, Vice President, and President, of the 2000 strong church. The assignment that got me into the main stream of teens and youth work was when I was appointed President, Agape Conference International. This conference has played host to thousands of Teens and Youths annually since 1984, attracting participants from about 400 churches representing 203 denominations from 33 states of Nigeria. It has been my privilege to preside over this conference since 1987 till date. I have been pastoring youth oriented churches for over two decades and currently serving as District Overseer. Teens and Youth ministry has remained my major focus. 80% of our present 1,000 strong congregations are under 30 years old. I wrote this book to document my over thirty years practical experience in teens and youths ministry. It is my conviction that it is much easier and cheaper to prepare young people than to repair old adults. The dropout rate of youths and teens from churches is alarming. Old generation churches are lamenting the "loss" of youth population to "new" generation chapels. The real actual loss is the loss of our teens to drug abuse, nominalism, premarital sex and cultism. Most pulpits in the land don't have the answer, except platitudes and living in denial. Clergy are still living with old realities. Analog minds on the pulpit cannot provide answers to the questions of digital minds in the pews. We need to download the unchanging words of God to the contemporary world in a timely fashion. This is why I wrote this book. How do we Pastor the Facebook Generation? This book provides practical insights, based on proven experience. How do we make Teens to develop interest in our churches and Bible studies? How do we set up Teens Church? How can we have more youth friendly churches? How do we engage the youth culture? How do we invade the Teens world on what to wear, why sex must wait and many other burning issues? This is why I wrote this book of hundred chapters. This book can be used as training manual for Youth Leaders and Youth Ministers. I highlighted 56 out of 100 lessons I have learnt in thirty years of Teens and youth ministry. You can learn from either of both sources mistakes or mentors. This book, 101 Ways To Attract, Retain And Train Youths And Teens In Your Church, will prevent you from making the mistakes that are common with youth leaders. The book comes handy as a mentorship manual. Read it chapter by chapter in leadership group discussions.
