BY VICTOR OCHIENG’
As a scribe who traverses the country to deliver pep talks, I am thinking deeply about the integral role of churches in the lives of young people. With crystalline clarity, during the holiday, churches should influence their lives in matters talent, character, career and academics. This can happen in church services, seminars, camps and conferences.
Foremost, churches should spearhead spiritual development. In 1 Timothy 3:5, Apostle Paul of Tarsus reminded his protégé Timothy that the church is the pillar and ground of truth. Therefore, participating in church programmes exposes people to pious truth.
Again, churches should expose young people to intelligent, interesting and inspirational content. Churches should save the young generation from cults, occults, perversion, heresies and secularism: by grounding them on spiritual disciplines like Bible reading, prayer, fasting, fellowship, service, altruism, inter alia.
In addition, Billy Graham observed, “When wealth is lost, nothing is lost. When health is lost, something is lost. But when character is lost, all is lost.” Spirituality, morality and character, intersect. Therefore, the church should focus on character development, which attracts greatness. As put aptly by Ann Frank, “Human greatness does not lie in affluence or influence but in character and goodness. People are just people, and all people have faults and shortcomings, but all of us are born with some basic goodness.”
Actually, character is the sum total of values, beliefs and personality. People show their character through behaviour and actions. People who have character adhere to some acceptable code of conduct. Through internal value-system, they make informed decisions and focus on pillars of character like respect, courtesy, diligence, discipline, dignity, integrity and responsibility.
Moreover, it is what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. captured in his phenomenal speech titled I Have A Dream. To meet the might of physical force with soul force, the spell-binding orator reminded the American racists, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Indeed, there is need to treasure character more than the greatest gems. For George Washington observed, “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most valuable of all titles, the character of an honest man.” Churches should help young people wage war against vanity, immorality, profanity, perversion, drug abuse, crime and anti-social behaviour.
Ipso facto, during the holiday, churches should focus on programmes that nurture talents, gifts and skills inherent in young people. We should not be ignorant about gifts as we read in the Pauline epistles.
Furthermore, skills are acquired abilities. Young people need skills such as life skills, 21st century skills, employability skills, transferable skills, soft skills, people skills and life skills. In Proverbs 22:29, Solomon sagely says, “Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before mean men.”
Again, in Proverbs 18:16, he sagaciously says, “A man’s gift opens doors for him, and brings him before great men” In 2 Timothy 1:6, Apostle Paul of Tarsus admonishes his mentee Timothy, “For this reason, I remind you to fan into flames the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
Consequently, the church has a pivotal role in matters career development of young people. Careers are professions that will enable them to prosper and access success in life. In the distant past, Abraham Lincoln observed, “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” This prediction of the future requires good guidance.
Again, there is exigence of exploring factors influencing career choices, without locking out myths, pitfalls and pratfalls about careers. There should be sensitisation on seriousness in subject selection, study abroad chances, scholarship opportunities and sources of funds for tertiary education.
Also, once STD 8 pupils finish writing KCPE and Form Four students are done with KCSE, the church should help them in their academic peregrination by coming up with proper plug-in programmes to enhance smooth transition.
In addition, Form Four leavers need an in-depth programme dubbed: What Next After KCSE? This should focus on Dos and Don’ts after KCSE plus preparation to accept exam outcomes for the sake of their mental health. Useful tips on how to survive and thrive in college is a brilliant thought. Meanwhile, young adults in universities and colleges need serious skills enhancement-cum-development programmes.
Finally, churches should encourage young people to evince excellence through love of learning. There should be pep talks on academic excellence. By extension, church premises should be places where teens and youths hear messages about academic excellence.
The writer collaborates with churches to talk to young people. vochieng.90@gmail.com
