Wednesday, April 10, 2019 – Archived Post from Salvation Soldier Blog
Years ago I had a vivid dream not long before Youth Councils that was a complete shock to me. I still try to interpret what it means to me, and what it means to God.
In the dream there was a huge screen displaying different images and videos, part of the stage for the Youth Councils. At some point in the meeting we were attending a Lion appeared on the dream. This lion was magnificent, and stern with red eyes. It did not seem that others in the room could see the Lion on the screen, and the Lion seemed to be behind the scenes. Then the lion looked me in the eyes and I fell to my knees. I was so overcome for the sorrow of my own sin that I couldn’t move.
Soon the meeting in the dream ended, and I walked around what seemed like a casino, but it was full of youth councils delegates. The delegates were smoking, drinking, and gambling, laughing and having a great time. That is the last I can remember.
In those days I struggled with the messages being preached at Youth Councils. It wasn’t that what was taught was untrue, just that it missed the point. Youth Councils are filled with teenagers many of whom do not know the first thing about service and salvation to Christ. The first thing being total surrender and repentance. Often we have a great time, but if the challenge isn’t real, or if it is akin to offering a hand of friendship rather than a Lord to be worshipped, the impact we have on lives at Youth Councils will be very limited, like throwing a party at a Corps instead of seeing people transformed.
Where have all our youths gone? Why do most walk away, and some remain? There is a serious question hanging over our youth ministry in The Salvation Army, “do we provide real opportunity for transformation to even youth that regularly attend?” For those of us who grew up in that ministry, was there transformation to be found there? I know every environment and every corps and every camp will produce differing experiences, but I will probe. When kids leave our influence, do they take holiness with them, or the Holy Spirit, or a desire to dive deeper into their walks with Jesus?
I treasure the opportunity I had in my brief stint as an assistant officer in York, PA to lead Bible teaching at the York Vacation Bible School. The kids who came mostly did not have very much interest in listening to me, and the older boys sat in the back during the gathering and joked and laughed. I challenged them every day that following Jesus means standing up in front of your friends and still following no matter what. I will never forget a brave young boy who stood up in front of his laughing friends and walked forward when I asked those who would follow Jesus to come forward. He taught me something about following Jesus.
So what of the images in my dream, what do they mean to me? The lion represented Jesus, finding the church at peace with their sin instead of at peace with Him. My sorrow for sin was for my own sin. I had not given Jesus full authority over the inner workings of my heart, hanging onto and relying on the comforts of American wealth instead of total reliance on God. I do believe the setting was specific to the youth councils in question, that is that while God was present behind the scenes, the enjoyment of the setting was the main feature of the youth councils to most present, rather than the seeking out of our relationships with Jesus.
The gambling and drinking and smoking of the Christians represented our compromise and enjoyment of sinful activities rather than true surrender to Christ. The modern gospel, more about grace and less about repentance. More about a fleshly version of love, a love without commitment to anyone but ourselves, rather than the cross where Christ suffered and died for our sin.
You may say this is a harsh word. You have probably understood by now I won’t sugar coat it for you. I am not speaking this out to condemn The Salvation Army or the Corps ministry. Just take off the pride for the movement and take a real look at where we are and what we have been called to. Like much of the American church, the modern gospel wants to settle in, and has been enjoying itself in our corps, choking the life out of them. We have been called to full surrender to Christ and baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have been called to give everything up for Jesus.
When we do that, we cannot fail.
Source:
Picture – Yathin S Krishnappa [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]