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Mike and Bee Arter serve as Foursquare missionaries to Mae Sot, Thailand, a predominately Buddhist nation known for its beauty and friendliness but also for high rates of human trafficking and youth looking for answers in all the wrong places. The Arters are creatively reaching people and say there are many ways we from the U.S. can help the ministry there.
David Hanley, founder of the band Press Play and worship pastor at New Hope Christian Fellowship, a Foursquare church in Simi Valley, Calif., believes that a lifestyle of worship is a calling for all of us. Worship is not mainly about leading from a platform, he says. It’s about leading people to Christ.
Through Foursquare maintaining amazing camping facilities, organizing retreats, and facilitating camps and getaways, room is made for thousands of people to encounter God. John Cox, NextGen coordinator for the Pacific Coast and Valleys District, recalls many instances of lives being changed at camp and explains how important it is for these to be remembered.
Tommy Green from Salt Lake City Foursquare Church in Utah reaches out to “hardcore” young people who are normally overlooked by the church. He insists they have a passion we need to recognize, and encourages leaders to look past the hairstyles and tattoos and see their hearts.
David and Joyce Wing have served Dover Foursquare Church in Dover, Ohio—a small town of 12,000 people in the shadow of Amish country—for 42 years. Loving people well is what this church is all about. They are known as a place where the people show friendliness and love, serve the community and give freely.
Recent high school graduate Dylan Haynes started a father/son basketball outreach with his dad when he was still in high school. The idea was simple: Every Tuesday night, he and other members from New Life Community Church in Manchester, N.H., would play basketball for a couple of hours with people from the community and develop relationships. The impact has been profound.
In the conclusion of our three-part series, Foursquare NextGen leaders discuss how parents and pastors can work together to create an environment for young people where they will feel safe and can explore their relationship with God.
Just in time for the new school year, Ignite Academy opened its doors at its new address in Christiansburg, Va., and became accredited as an extension campus of Life Pacific College, ensuring transferability of college credits to any college institution.
Studies show that teens are rejecting the church in droves. How can we turn this around before we lose the next generation? By approaching youth ministry with a new paradigm that is more holistic, say Foursquare NextGen leaders. As author Reggie Joiner notes, if we want to “experience a different outcome, we need to embrace a different strategy.”
The latest research reveals that most young people today are resistant to the church. It’s a disturbing trend, but Foursquare churches across the nation are tackling the issue head-on. It’s not too late, say Foursquare’s NextGen leaders, to develop a successful ministry that effectively reaches the “cradle to college” crowd.