High School Outreach
27/03/2007 9:00 am <>
An excellent discipleship camp for senior high schoolers ended just before Chinese New Year. Over 1,000 young people went home wearing an armband that read, “BECAUSE HE DIED – I LIVE!” Not one heart remained untouched during those five days! The young people went home with a strengthened faith and passion for Jesus. They now want to live for Jesus! They want to fight for Jesus in all their temptations, and they want to live for Jesus in their schools.
But life can be so different for them being at home again! A Christian boy sits in front of his computer for eight hours a day, which is average; the heart of a 19-year old girl breaks because her 17-year old boyfriend with whom she had a sexual relationship didn’t want her any more; a beautiful young girl sits in a dark corner at home and cries because her parents seem to be only concerned about her grades at school, and Grandma wants to take her to the temple to pray for help; a 16-year old boy’s parents continually scold him and freeze his emotions. These are the stories of Christian young people in Taiwan whose lives are blessed because they know God. They struggle, but yet with hope. They have people who accompany them, pick them up when they are down, and minister to them the love and grace of God. They have a Christian group in their school and in the summer they can attend another young people’s camp!
But what about the thousands of young people who don’t belong to a Christian youth group and will never go to one of the many camps during their winter and summer vacations? Taiwan has about 720,000 senior high schoolers, and there is a large number of young people who haven’t been able to make it into one of the schools. They might work in little factories, hang around on the streets, or …….?
My co-workers and I reach young people in the high schools. But the groups on campus are often very small, mostly consisting of Christians. But what could they do if they were on fire for the Lord? Good discipleship and training for evangelism is needed. Changed lives will influence others.
We often face restrictions by the schools. Sometimes a Christian group can’t continue meeting because the school decides not to have any Christian activities on campus any more, or the students all have to attend classes after school.
In some schools Christian students can register a social club as a part of the school's study program. Non-Christians can then also enroll to join this club. For example, our “Hot Music Club” has been very successful. We not only teach guitar, drums, vocals, and keyboard, we talk about the values of life expressed in songs. We share the gospel through Christian music, and we build relationships. This type of activity enables us to have a regular program with non-Christian students attending for a whole year. All sorts of things could be done with more creative workers!
What could be done with Christian teachers on fire for the Lord? We try to set up a local network of Christian teachers. We hope that the network will support and encourage the Christian teachers to have a good Christian testimony and to share the gospel with their students. In Taiwan a teacher has a tremendous influence. Last Christmas we challenged teachers in a school in Taichung to use the occasion of Christmas to share the gospel with their students. They decided to use the school’s sound system at lunchtime to broadcast the Christmas carol “Joy to the World” and tell the Christmas story to all the teachers and students in the school. After school the Christian teachers dressed up as Santa Claus and distributed a specially printed Christmas card and gift of candy to the 6,000 young people! Meanwhile I went with another teacher through the offices to wish everybody a “Merry Christmas!” (with a tract and chocolate, of course)!
What could be done with many more creative and passionate workers to win these precious people for Jesus?
Beate Harr (Working with Campus Evangelical Fellowship), Taichung
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