The Church of Pentecost Youth Ministry

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THE CHURCH OF PENTECOST

YOUTH MINISTRY

VISION PROPOSAL FOR THE PERIOD


2019-2023
TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................. 2
INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 3
Working Philosophy..................................................................................................................... 3
The Portrait of a Grounded Young Person................................................................................... 3
The Portrait of an Effective Ministry for Young People ............................................................. 4
DETAILS OF VISION .................................................................................................................... 4
Mandate 1: The Discipleship Mandate ........................................................................................ 4
Mandate 2: The Unleashing Mandate .......................................................................................... 8
Mandate 3: The Holistic Development Mandate ........................................................................13
PENSA INTERNATIONAL ..........................................................................................................21

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We give all honour and praise to God for granting us the grace to produce this vision document.
The Youth Ministry is especially grateful to the Executive Council of The Church of Pentecost for
their support over the years. We are also thankful to all stakeholders who contributed in diverse
ways to the preparation of this vision document.
We, as well, acknowledge the great and meritorious services rendered by Apostle Peter Ayerkwa
(Rtd.), director of erstwhile PENTYEM, and all former directors of the Youth Ministry, Apostle
Daniel Kwame Noble Atsu (Rtd), Apostle Emmanuel Kwesi Acquah, and Apostle David Nyansah
Hayfron, whose contributions to the work of the Youth Ministry have propelled the Ministry to its
current stage. Together with their respective National Executive Committees, they did a great work
for the Lord. May the Lord continue to bless them all.

DRAFT
The National Executive Committee of the Youth Ministry
17th October, 2019

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INTRODUCTION
The vision of The Church of Pentecost for the period 2018 – 2023, dubbed Vision 2023, is themed
“Possessing the Nations: Equipping the Church to Transform Every Sphere of Society with Values
and Principles of the Kingdom of God.” The overall goal of Vision 2023 is to see a church where
members go to possess their nations by transforming every worldview, thought and behaviour with
the values and principles of the Kingdom of God, and, by that, turn many people to Christ. The
mandate of the Youth Ministry of the Church, which is to mobilize young people and empower
them to live for Christ everywhere, is right in step with Vision 2023. Thus, the call of Vision 2023
is essentially the call of the Youth Ministry. This gives the Youth Ministry a crucial role in the
Vision 2023 agenda.

This document proposes a vision for the Youth Ministry for the period 2019 - 2023 thus:
“Grounding Young People in Christ and Unleashing Them to Possess the Nations” (Col. 2:6-7).
Informed by Vision 2023, and the mandate of the Youth Ministry, the National Executive
Committee foresees a Youth Ministry that grounds young people in Christ, develops them
holistically, and releases them to possess the nations for Christ. The entirety of this vision is set
around three main mandates, in line with Vision 2023: The Discipleship Mandate; The Holistic
Development Mandate; and The Unleashing Mandate. The call of this vision is, therefore, a call to
holistic discipleship in these contemporary times.

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Working Philosophy: Grounding young people in Christ, developing them holistically, and
unleashing them to possess the nations for Christ.

The Portrait of a Grounded Young Person: The portrait of the end product this vision seeks to
produce is:

1. A young person who knows the Lord Jesus Christ through an encounter with the Gospel,
and is committed to Him;
2. A young person who treasures his or her devotional time with the Lord;
3. A young person, who continues in the word of God daily, is responsible for his or her own
spiritual growth, walks in step with the Holy Spirit, and makes the choices of life under the
Spirit’s guidance;
4. A young person who is in love with Christ and passionately shares Christ’s love with others
through Christlike character and the preaching of the Gospel;
5. A versatile young person who is equipped spiritually, socially, physically, emotionally,
personally, and intellectually, and is relevant to society; and
6. A young person who loves the Church, and readily serves with his or her God-given ministry
and abilities in building the Church, and in possessing the nations for the Lord.

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The Portrait of an Effective Ministry for Young People: The portrait of the youth ministry we
envision to build is:

1. A youth ministry that grounds young people in Christ, develops them holistically to be
relevant to society, and unleashes them to take the nations for Christ;
2. A youth ministry that affirms young people and gives them a participatory space in ministry
in order to raise them up as leaders;
3. A youth ministry that is Pentecostal, contemporary, and is innovative in the use of
Information Technology (IT);
4. A youth ministry with authentic and highly trained team of passionate workers who work
together with parents, mentors, and church leaders to shape young people; and
5. A youth ministry that is up to date in the study and practice of youth ministry.

General Artistic Illustrations:


We shall seek to employ the use of spoken word, poetship, music, scripting, cartoons, painting,
short videos, choreography, dance, and other artistic forms to help in communicating the vision
and ministering to the youth.

NB: All scriptures used in this vision document are from the New International Version.

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DETAILS OF VISION

SECTION ONE

Mandate 1: The Discipleship Mandate


Focus: Helping Young People to Develop Deep Roots in Christ
(Colossians 2:6-7; Colossians 1:28; Matthew 7:24-27; Ephesians 6:10-18)

Catch phrases for young people: # Be Grounded! # Put on the Full Armour of God!

Artistic Illustration:
1. A generation with no deep roots – a mighty tree with no deep roots that falls as the wind
blows.
2. A military man being dressed up for combat (Ephesians 6:10-18)

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Overview
It has been observed that the face of Christianity in the current generation is fast becoming a ‘quick
fix’ matter along modern consumerist culture. With this, many young people are becoming
shallower and shallower in the things of God. There is no time for ‘process’ and so Christian
maturity is gradually becoming a scarce commodity. The picture here is that of a mighty tree with
shallow roots that cannot stand the storms and so falls miserably. Yet, the Lord Jesus beckons us
to “put out into the deep” (Luke 5:4), and Apostle Paul calls for getting rooted in Christ (Colossians
2:6-7). This vision mandate is a response to these biblical calls and to the call of Vision 2023 for
systematic discipleship as a way of equipping the Church to take the nations for Christ. There is
the need to ground young people in Christ if they would rise to the challenge of becoming agents
of transformation and possessors of nations, else like Asahel, they will run with no tact (2 Samuel
2:17-23), and like Ahimaaz they will run with no message (2 Samuel 18:19-29).

As a church-based ministry to young people, sometimes, our approach to discipleship is largely


congregational and implied in our programmes. This mandate puts forward an agenda for a
systematic discipleship approach that will help disciple young people and root them in Christ in
both campus and ‘home’ youth ministry contexts. The mandate calls for ensuring discipleship
rather than implying it in our ministry delivery. In the end, young people shall become mighty trees
under whose branches many people shall find rest in Christ, and a mighty army fully armed to take

DRAFT
the nations for Christ. Our discipleship approach shall emphasise habit formation for spiritual
development, mentoring, provision of needed resources, and capacity building.

Scriptural Foundation
Colossians 2:6-7: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives
in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing
with thankfulness.”

Ephesians 6:10-18: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor
of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of
God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have
done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with
the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes
from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can
extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers
and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

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To Do:
1. Habit Formation for Spiritual Development
a. We shall focus on helping young people to form the habit of growing deep roots in Christ
by observing their personal devotions consistently, committing to the personal and group
study of the word of God and its practical application to their daily lives, committing to
a life of prayer, fasting, scripture memorization, and meditation among others.
b. We shall help young people to develop deep fellowship with the Holy Spirit and relate
to Jesus as the love of their lives by committing to the formation of the habits outlined
in (a) above. Young people shall also be encouraged to journal (write down) their
experiences with God and share them with their friends.
c. We shall encourage young people to live the Christian life as a shared communal life
with their friends, and to belong to small groups that are motivated to commit to the
Lord and do great things for Him.
d. Small groups shall pray together (through Prayer Triplets), read and study the Bible
together (through Bible Reading Clubs and Small Group Bible Studies), and share the
Gospel (through the Andrew Strategy). They shall also be accountability groups with
the members agreeing to be accountable to each other in keeping to a faithful Christian
life. Members of a given small group shall enjoy deep fellowship among themselves.
e. The formation of Bible Reading Clubs by which young people form small groups to read

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the Bible together from time to time will be encouraged at all levels of the Ministry.
Suggested reading materials will be made available by the leadership of the Youth
Ministry. Members will be required to summarize the books read in a given period, as
well as answer some accompanying questions for various awards at various levels of the
Youth Ministry. The Directorate shall host a standard Bible Reading Club on Pent TV
and on social media.

2. Mentoring
a. We shall promote mentoring as a strategic means of discipling young people. Mentoring
shall be made an essential part of the work of the Youth Ministry at all levels.
b. We shall refocus our youth ministry discipleship strategy from being ‘service,
programme or meeting centered’ to being mentoring and person-centered.
c. We shall endeavor to ground young people in the doctrines, traditions and practices of
the Church.
d. In mentoring, youth leaders shall make conscious efforts to assist young people to
commit to the formation of habits that will ensure spiritual growth and holistic
development. Youth leaders shall also affirm young people and help in the development
of their potential as well as encourage the use of their gifts for the work of God. They
shall also help to provide resources needed for growth at the personal and group levels.

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e. Young people shall be taught to avail themselves for mentoring, evangelism, and service
in the Church. They will be taught to use all their potentials and abilities to support the
building of God’s church.
f. The Paul - Timothy - Titus model of mentoring which strategically links generations
shall be encouraged. Youth workers at all levels shall be required to be part of the
mentoring chain, receiving mentoring from the fathers and mentoring the youth.
g. We shall seek to encourage the Church at all levels to commit to mentoring the youth in
navigating through life.
h. Adult mentors shall be encouraged to get involved in youth ministry. We shall seek to
adopt the practice of using strategic God-fearing adults of influence who have young
people at heart as mentors. This shall be encouraged at all levels of the Youth Ministry.
i. We shall require PENSA travelling secretaries to prioritize mentoring, leadership
training, and capacity building, and to cut down on joint activities at the sector level.
j. We shall be committed to harnessing the resourceful human capital of the PIWCs and
PENSA alumni to mentor the youth. They may also serve as mentors in our professional
mentoring programmes at the various levels of the Church.

3. Provision of Needed Resources


a. The Church shall continue to deploy more ministers into youth work in order to sustain

DRAFT
the gains made so far and to improve upon it. Accordingly, more PENSA travelling
secretaries and youth pastors shall be appointed. We shall explore the possibility of
stationing resident PENSA campus pastors in the main universities to further improve
pastoral care.
b. We shall work hard to make available resources that will help young people to form
habits that will ensure their spiritual growth. These shall include Bibles, devotional
resources, personal and group Bible study resources, ‘Read through the Bible’ plans,
Scripture memorization tools, etc.
c. The ‘Streams of Living Water’ devotional guide produced by the Ministry shall be given
a retouch in terms of design and organization of content to make it more youth-friendly.
We shall also consider the possibility of making the devotional guide available online
in both written and podcast formats. This is to integrate the devotional guide publication
into the youth culture of today where a lot of young people prefer having their
devotionals/Christian literature on their Smartphone and on the go.
d. We shall put in place a holistic discipleship strategy that responds to all dimensions of
learning - cognitive (head knowledge), affective (emotional and attitude coordination),
and psychomotor (experiential dimension) for the campus ministry context, in line with
Vision 2023. This shall be called the PENSA Discipleship Programme (PDP).

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e. We shall encourage the Church at all levels to invest in the development of young
people. For example, churches can assist in making Bibles and devotional materials
available to young people as investment in their spiritual development.
f. We shall partner with various organizations and groups that will help in the provision of
resources outlined in actions (3b) and (3c), above with the approval of the leadership of
the Church.
g. We shall be committed to the production of specific materials that will help in the
discipleship of young adults and teenagers with sensitivity to their unique contexts and
needs.
h. We shall make innovative use of IT to make our discipleship efforts relevant to
contemporary young people.
i. We shall produce an orientation manual for PENSA leaders on how they can effectively
carry out their duties.

4. Personal Leadership Training and Capacity Building


a. We shall equip young people for personal leadership development. Areas such as
etiquette, ethical conduct, self-management, time and resource management, etc. shall
be emphasized.
b. We shall be committed to building the capacity of PENSA leaders. PENSA conferences

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shall have capacity-building components. Aside this, separate leadership training
sessions shall be organized for PENSA Leaders.
c. The Director shall hold leadership training and capacity building sessions as part of his
treks to campuses and Areas, and same shall be required from travelling secretaries,
youth pastors and youth leaders.

SECTION TWO

Mandate 2: The Unleashing Mandate


Focus: Unleashing Young People to be the Working Force in Possessing the Nations, and in
Building the Church
(Acts 1:8; Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 3: 7-11; 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, Matthew 28:19)

Catchword for young people: # Go!

Artistic Illustration:
a) A mighty army dressed up and released for combat [Song: There is an army rising up
to break every chain]

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b) Young people going out with the Gospel –they sharing the Gospel, and God touching
lives.

Overview
Whereas the Discipleship Mandate focuses on grounding young people in Christ by helping them
to develop deep roots in Him, the Unleashing Mandate focuses on releasing young people as God’s
working force to possess the nations and to build His church. Young people are God’s combating
force. They are His special team to take the nations and to build His church. Hence, to retain them
in the four walls of the Church is to hold God’s mission back, and to keep them on the pews is to
cause a disservice to the establishment of His Kingdom on earth.

Young people constitute every church’s greatest asset, their deadliest weapon, and their most
effective tool for expansion. The Bible calls young people “arrows in the hands of a warrior” and
it continues that “blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them” (Psalm 127:4-5). Churches who
know how to release these powerful arrows effectively, and use these tools well succeed stopping
the enemy, and do well in expanding the Kingdom of God. The Church of Pentecost is 73% young
people, and specifically, the youth make up 40% of the membership (as of the end of year 2018).
These are arrows and tools. As we thank God for this possession, we must strategically unleash
these arrows and tools by making them the working force for expanding the Kingdom of God, and

DRAFT
for building the Church in all local assemblies, districts, areas, and nations. This is because it is
only when these arrows are massively released that we can tap our fullest blessing from them. For
of what use are arrows if they are not released, and tools if they are not put to work? The greatest
expansion of the Church of Pentecost, therefore, awaits our complete release of young people at all
levels of the Church for evangelism and for work in the Church.

This mandate aims at conscientizing the Church to boldly unleash young people for the expansion
of the Kingdom of God through evangelism, work in the Church, and societal transformation. It
calls for a careful assimilation of young people into the life and ministry of the Church whilst at
the same time calling young people to avail themselves of the necessary preparations God, and the
leaders of the Church, would like to take them through before unleashing them.

Scriptural Foundation
Acts1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my
witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Ephesians 3: 7-11: “I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me
through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people,
this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to
make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept
hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the Church, the
manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the

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heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our
Lord.”

2 Corinthians 10:3-6: “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world
does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they
have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make
it obedient to Christ. And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your
obedience is complete.”

To Do
1. Evangelism
a. We shall encourage and teach the Church at all levels to tap the energy, the potentials,
and the exuberance of the youth to build the Church and expand the Kingdom of God
through vibrant evangelism. Young people, being the biggest constituency of the
Church, must become its working force to bring about the biggest expansion ever.
b. Evangelism shall become the normal lifestyle of every young person through deliberate
teaching. Young people shall be made to know that sharing Christ with others is part of
the natural life of the believer (Ephesians 6:15).

DRAFT
c. We shall give PENSA a single global focus of possessing campuses and nations for
Christ.
d. The planting of new churches and opening of new PENSA branches across the country
shall be pursued in all earnest. Priority attention shall be given to institutions in Ghana
without formal PENSA presence. A map will be developed to show institutions with
PENSA and those without it to make planning easier. PENSA sectors shall be tasked to
open new branches in institutions that fall within their jurisdictions.
e. We shall commit PENSA to more evangelistic efforts on the campuses and at other
strategic avenues. For example, entertainment periods of senior high schools, and their
joint church service sessions, as well as any other openings on campuses shall be taken
for evangelism.
f. We shall endeavor to build the capacities of students for campus evangelism through
workshops and training sessions at the institutional, sector, and national levels.
g. We shall continue to run the Pentecost Young Missionaries (PYM) outreach
programmes at the zonal and area levels to win and disciple more souls for Christ.
PENSA sectors, Areas, and districts shall be encouraged to organize PYM outreaches
from time to time within their jurisdictions to help spread the gospel.
h. The Win, Integrate, and Nurture (WIN) Team concept which was the evangelism model
of the Ministry shall be reframed into our soul winning and discipleship focus rather
than leaving it to stand alone. The emphasis shall be on all young people doing

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evangelism rather than a team. The coordinator shall be called the Evangelism and
Discipleship Coordinator.
i. In line with the affirmative action of the Executive Council, we shall be committed to
aggressive evangelism in the northern parts of Ghana.
j. We shall mobilize final-year students in the tertiary institutions to opt for their national
service in northern Ghana and some rural communities so they can help in missions
work. There shall be a support package for such students.
k. We shall partner the Home and Urban Missions (HUM) for evangelism among
expatriates. As part of this we shall be committed to developing an effective transfer
system that links the souls won to the churches in their countries of residence. This joint
effort shall be called ‘Youth in Expatriate Evangelism (YIEE)’. We shall also partner
HUM for evangelistic outreaches among the Fulanis and other people groups.
l. Specifically, PENSA shall partner HUM to help it with personnel for its expatriate
mission. On the campuses however, mission to foreign students shall continue to remain
a ministry under PENSA. HUM shall however help to train chosen student leaders for
this ministry on the campuses.
m. Souls won by various PYM expatriate outreach teams shall be released to HUM for their
discipleship.
n. We shall consciously equip teams of young people to take over social media and other

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platforms with the message of the gospel, and the values and principles of the Kingdom
of God.
o. We shall produce evangelistic tracts for free distribution. These shall be in different
languages.
p. At all levels of the Youth Ministry, we shall be committed to using all means possible
to spread the gospel.
q. We shall encourage the youth to make themselves available for the Church’s ministry
to people with special needs (people with disabilities (PWDs)).
r. We shall also mobilise young people for training sessions to be organised by the
leadership of the ministry to PWDs in order for them to serve as that ministry’s
manpower at the various levels of the Church.
s. We shall adopt the “Operation Andrew” strategy (John 1:40-42) for evangelism in small
groups. By this strategy, individuals in small groups shall identify unsaved people in
their neighborhoods, on their campuses, families, and among their fiends etc., submit
their names to their groups for cooperate prayer over them, and strategically reach them
with the gospel for Christ and also to invite them to church.

2. Building the Church


a. We shall encourage and teach young people to use the opportunities the Church gives
them to serve with their potentials, abilities, and expertise in helping expand the Church.

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b. We shall commit to pursuing excellence and professionalism in our church service and
general ministry delivery. PENSA services shall be oriented to be more appealing to
foreign students, postgraduate students, lecturers, etc.
c. We shall address the issues of post modernism that confront young people in the
contemporary generation using the tool of the word of God.

3. Influencing and Transforming Society


a. We shall encourage young people as God’s ambassadors to rise and take over ‘wherever’
they find themselves for the Lord – their workplaces, classrooms, homes, etc.
b. We shall map out strategies on how to unleash young people to take over the seven
spheres of the Ghanaian society which are family, government/politics,
education/science, media/culture, arts/entertainment/sports, religion, and
business/economy, and transform these spaces for Christ.
c. We shall initiate the ‘PENSA Community Projects’ concept which shall bring volunteers
together to attend to obvious social challenges that confront communities. It may range
from economic empowerment to education, rehabilitation, etc. Aspects of these projects
shall be held in collaboration with PENTSOS. We shall seek sponsors for these
interventions.
d. We shall introduce the Pentecost ‘Young Achievers, Social Entrepreneurs, and

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Innovators (Y.A.S.E.I)’ Awards to encourage young people to make innovative
contributions to improve livelihoods in their various communities.

4. Chaplaincy and Outreach to Junior High and Primary Schools


a. The Ministry shall give a fresh attention to ministry to junior high and primary schools
in particular, and to chaplaincy, in general.
b. We shall be committed to providing chaplaincy services in the areas of sports, schools,
and workplaces with the student and alumni force of PENSA as well as with the ‘home’
youth.
c. All PENSA sectors and institutions as well as Areas, districts, and local assemblies shall
be required to form chaplaincy and schools outreach teams/committees that reach
schools, workplaces, and sporting groups within their jurisdictions to share the gospel
with them and to extend volunteer chaplaincy services to them. This ministry shall be
under the leadership of the Area youth pastor/leader, and he shall report on it to the
Chairman through the Youth Director. One of the executives of the Youth Ministry at the
Area level shall be assigned to work with the youth pastor/leader in coordinating this
ministry at the Area level. Similarly, at the district and local levels, one person in the
district youth executive, and one in the local youth executive, shall be assigned to lead
this special ministry at those levels respectively.

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d. From time to time training sessions shall be organized in collaboration with the National
Chaplaincy Board to build capacity for chaplaincy work in schools, workplaces, etc.
e. All ministers, officers, teachers, PENSA Alumni, and members of the Church shall be
encouraged to reach out to the schools within their jurisdictions with the gospel and
volunteer chaplaincy services. This shall be done as a collaborative effort with the
leadership of the Youth ministry at the various levels of the Church.
f. We shall explore the possibility of the ‘5-minute devotion with top CEOs/ leaders’
chaplaincy strategy. By this strategy, weekly devotions that last for only 5 minutes are
organized for busy corporate leaders by chaplaincy volunteers. This may be later
explored as a strategy in the digital space to reach a wider global audience of CEOs and
busy people via the internet.

SECTION THREE

Mandate 3: The Holistic Development Mandate


Focus: Becoming a Ministry That Develops Young People Holistically
(3 John 2; 2 Peter 1:3; Luke 2:52; Col. 1:28)

Catchphrase for youth workers: # Holistic Ministry for Holistic Development

Artistic Illustration: Flowcharts DRAFT


Overview
Youth work has changed with the travel of time from being just the Church’s response to how it
could shelter and keep young people who had come to the Christian faith and to build their spiritual
lives, to a more recent ministry approach that gives attention to the holistic development of young
people. In recent times, the needs of young people have become more and more complex and
diversified globally, coming in a maze of delicate configurations. Thus currently, the youth are
demanding more than spiritual care from the church. There is, therefore, the need to give a holistic
ministry response that seeks to meet young people in all aspects of their areas of need in
contemporary youth work. Researchers such as Fernando Arzola Jr. have established that the main
needs of young people are their spiritual needs, social needs, emotional needs, intellectual needs,
physical needs, and personal needs. To develop young people holistically, therefore, the
interventions deployed in youth ministry must necessarily respond to these areas of need. This
mandate advocates a youth ministry that is responsive to the holistic needs of young people as part
of efforts to develop them holistically. It will, therefore, inform a developmental approach to
ministry among young people by which, based on their characteristics and unique needs, various
groupings (such as young adolescents, middle adolescents, older adolescents, the students and
career young adults group, young couples, new parents, parents of teenagers, and singles) are

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ministered to. Based on this, we shall seek to re-organize existing content and strategy, and develop
new ones for youth ministry in both campus and ‘home’ youth ministry contexts.

Scriptural Foundation
3 John 2: “Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you,
even as your soul is getting along well.”

2 Peter 1:3: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our
knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us
his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Luke 2:52: “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.”

Colossians 1:28: “He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ.”

To Do:

DRAFT
1. Emphasis on the Different Contexts and Components of the Youth Ministry
a. In step with the age group ministry emphasis to be adopted, we shall lay emphasis
on the two components of the Youth Ministry – Teens Ministry and Young Adults
Ministry.
b. We shall properly organize the Teens Ministry in the ‘home’ context and PENSA in
pre-tertiary institutions under ‘Teens’ and treat them under the same content
considerations. Similarly, we shall organize PENSA in the tertiary institutions and
the young adults in the ‘home’ youth ministry context under ‘Young Adults’. This
shall enhance continuity in the Ministry’s efforts in building young people. Thus,
whether at home or in school, a young person will not miss out on what the Ministry
is giving out. For PENSA, however, the content provided shall be a resource bank
rather than a dictation on what must be treated in every meeting. This is to allow
PENSA to have the open space to do other things needed in their campus context.
c. We shall also build strong expertise for the two contexts of the youth ministry: the
‘home’ youth and campus ministry contexts.
d. We shall recommend a reconstitution of the National Executive Committee (NEC)
of the Ministry to have a travelling secretaries’ representative and a youth pastors’
representative. This will help to serve the interests of these contexts of the Ministry
better, as well as link the NEC to the ‘field work’ of the Ministry better, thereby
informing decision making.

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2. Renewed Attention on Adolescents/Teens Ministry
a. We shall give a renewed attention to Teens Ministry and endeavor to offer a ministry
that meets the unique set of needs of teens.
b. We shall explore the possibility of splitting the pre-tertiary PENSA conferences from
the tertiary conferences in order to give the adolescents the attention they so much
deserve.
c. We shall direct a lot of attention to pre-tertiary institutions since they constitute
PENSA’s feeding source. Members of the Church who serve on various campuses
shall be encouraged to be involved in PENSA and to help it where there is need.
d. We shall explore the possibility of dedicating the Saturdays of the ministry weeks to
teenage classes.

3. Resource and Leadership Development


a. We shall build a one-stop youth ministry resource bank online with accessibility to
all youth workers across the globe. This shall include podcasts of audio resources,
and training materials among others.
b. We shall develop a comprehensive resource material for youth work which shall be
called the Pentecost Youth Ministry Manual. This material shall contain our vision,

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mission, and strategy for youth work, our church policy on youth and youth work,
and our approach to youth work. It shall also cover campus and “home” youth
ministry contexts, the responsibilities of youth workers and how they are to
discharge them among others. It shall also come with a resource guide and an
orientation material (training kit) for newly called leaders at all levels.
c. We shall double efforts at imparting grassroots leaders with the vision of the
Directorate. We shall also endeavor to equip these grassroots leaders with the
appropriate training and resources needed. We shall take time to equip them on how
best to use the Ministry’s syllabi as well.
d. We shall invest time and resource to develop lay youth leaders just as the clergy are
being developed. Comparatively, since lay youth workers stay longer in youth
ministry at the grassroots than the clergy (due to transfers, etc.), ministry to young
people at the grassroots would be helped a great deal if lay youth workers are trained
and better equipped. We will therefore give adequate attention to training lay youth
leaders, and we will give out certificates to those trained. With such training
provided, the Ministry would encourage that appointment of district leaders, local
leaders, etc. is preferably done from such trained personnel in the Church.
e. We shall seek to have a centre for the study of youth ministry established at
PUC/PTS.

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f. We shall establish a committee for youth ministry research and resource
development that will encourage youth workers to research into youth work and
emerging trends, and write on them.
g. School of Youth Ministry, a programme earmarked for leadership development,
shall be held in two formats. The first format shall be held biennially at PUC/PTS.
The second format shall be an itinerant youth leadership training programme to be
held at the Area/zonal level at least once every year. It shall be called the ‘Youth
Ministry on the Go’.
h. We shall organize national youth leaders’ conferences biennially.
i. We shall endeavor to develop a lesson plan for the youth syllabi.

4. Guidance and Counselling


a. We shall put in place a well-structured and effective guidance and counseling system
to help the youth. This shall be done in collaboration with the Counseling Unit of the
Church.
b. We shall initiate the Peer Counselor Developer Programme in collaboration with the
Counselling Unit. This will be replicated in all campuses.
c. We shall provide adequate training for youth workers at all levels in the area of
counselling and rehabilitation in collaboration with the Counselling Unit.

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5. Transition Between Youth Ministry and Other Ministries
a. We shall collaborate with the Children’s Ministry leadership to establish appropriate
‘rites’ of passage (appropriate transitioning protocols) between Children’s Ministry
and Youth Ministry. These ‘rites’ (protocols) shall include a defined content that 12-
year olds and early teenagers shall be taken through (for which demonstration of
knowledge and ability will be required from the young people concerned as part of
their assessment). The ‘rites’ (protocols) shall also include water baptism, Holy Spirit
baptism, the giving of baptismal certificates and other awards, the extension of the
right hand of fellowship, and a public honor at a planned church service.
b. In view of this, we shall institute the ‘Early Teens’ class, to be called the Timothy
Generation class (intervention) to smoothly transition early teenagers into the Youth
Ministry and the adult church. In this intervention, Youth Ministry and Children’s
Ministry leaders shall team up to (jointly) handle 12-year olds and early teenagers in
class sessions for a period of time. It has been realized that the normal transition is
sometimes too sharp for these early teenagers, and the Church loses some of them as
a result. This intervention will help address that challenge.
c. We shall join efforts with Men’s Ministry and Women’s Ministry in aspects of our
Young Adults Ministry (ministry to all members of the Church between 20 and 35

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years). This is to help meet the needs of the young people in that age bracket better,
and to facilitate their smooth transition into Women’s Ministry and Men’s Ministries.
d. We shall collaborate with the Evangelism Ministry in some evangelism outreaches
both on and outside the campuses. Our collaboration shall also cover areas of
discipleship training and capacity building for evangelism among others.

6. Innovative Use of Information Technology (IT)


a. We shall make effective use of IT and social media as a means of reaching and
ministering to the generation. On the basis of this we shall form a strong IT and media
team for the Ministry.
b. We shall improve the Ministry’s website (www.penteagle.org). We shall make it
more interactive, and use it as a base for most of the operations of the Youth Ministry
including creating portals for youth pastors/TSs for their blogging.
c. We shall continue to pursue the youth resource centre vision but introduce a digital
dimension to the idea by developing an interactive app that will help serve the purpose
of the resource centre – providing a contact point for diversified help for young
people. Among others, the app will make room for online/cyber counselling, have a
virtual library component, a devotional area with an uploaded Bible and other
devotional materials, an apologetic area where the issues that bother young people

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will receive attention, a youth empowerment/resource component where materials
will be shared on the uniqueness of young people, their needs, and how to minister to
them, among others, and a general chat/socializing area.

7. Apologetics
a. We shall endeavor to equip young people to be entrenched in the faith so that “they
may know the certainty of those things in which [they] were taught” (Luke 1:4), and
“be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks [them] of a reason for the hope that
is in [them], with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15), and to be able to defend it in the
face of opposition.
b. School of Apologetics (SCOAP) shall continue unabated, and shall be made to be
more responsive to emerging trends and issues that seek to confuse young people’s
faith such as sports betting, partying, premarital sex in courtship, tattoos, illicit drugs,
cyber relationships, homosexuality, online dating, etc.
c. In addition to its ministry of training participants in the classroom context, we shall
extend SCOAP’s mandate to maintain a presence in the public space where the faith
of young people is challenged. As such, SCOAP shall endeavor to guide young people
as they navigate through a world full of philosophies and practices that stand opposed
to the demands of their Christian faith by responding to their pertinent questions, and
by making efforts to rebut deceptive teachings and philosophies of the age with the

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word of God in the public space. In view of this we shall create a programme on
PENT TV and on social media that will seek to respond to the questions young people
have. Thus, we shall seek to address the issues of postmodernism that confront young
people in the contemporary generation using the word of God.
d. We shall introduce an e-newsletter to combat deceptive philosophies, worldviews,
and onslaughts of the enemy, and to preach the gospel and the right Christian doctrine.
e. We shall involve PENSA students more in the School of Apologetics.

8. Holistic Programming and Interventions


a. We shall ensure that youth ministry programming at all levels responds to the
spiritual, social, emotional, personal, intellectual, and physical needs of young
people. The Ministry’s instruction materials and reporting system will, therefore, with
time, be revised to reflect this.
b. We shall encourage talent and skills development among young people in all local
assemblies. Examples shall include music, instruments, choreography, drama, poetry,
technical skills, preaching, writing, debating, design, media, sports, fashion, etc.
c. We shall give attention to vocational/technical education (hairdressing, sewing,
plumbing, etc.) support systems especially among the semiliterate.
d. PENSA travelling secretaries shall be required to organize exit seminars for final year

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students to prepare them for life after school. This may be held at the sector level or
at the instructional level.
e. PENSA traveling secretaries shall be required to register all final year students and
submit their details to the Youth Directorate to be compiled into a yearly database at
the national level.
f. Similarly, PENSA traveling secretaries shall be required to ensure that the institutions
under them fully and properly register their first year students into a database that will
help to operate an effective follow up and pastoral care system.
g. We shall continue with the Political and Business Chambers. Both programmes shall
be given more prominence on the campuses as well as in the “home” youth ministry
context.
h. In line with contemporary trends, the Business Chamber shall now be called the
Business and Entrepreneurship Chamber.
i. We shall entrench the Business and Entrepreneurship Chamber strongly at the
zonal/area level(s) whilst maintaining a ‘Chamber’ at the national level which shall
be fed into by the zones/areas and the campuses. It shall be called the National
Business and Entrepreneurship Chamber. The Ministry shall commit itself to the
building of members of the National Chamber for a given duration of time.
j. The rising spate of unemployment requires that we equip young people with
entrepreneurial skills, and help them to connect with opportunities and resources that

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will help them. We shall, therefore, launch the ‘Youth in Entrepreneurship Project
(YiEP)’ in the National Business and Entrepreneurship Chamber. YiEP shall unleash
young people into their God-given entrepreneurial abilities, help them to team up with
similarly gifted godly young people, motivate them to identify entrepreneurial
opportunities, and design solutions to them. For a given cohort in the National
Chamber, different teams shall be formed. The teams shall have a yearly challenge
thrown at them, and they they shall be tasked to find entrepreneural solutions to it.
Once they succeed in finding solutions, with the help of experts in various pitch
sessions, the cohorts will be linked to resources and opportunities that will help in the
commercialization of the solution. We shall also link up teams to private
entrepreneurs and corporate entities for mentorship.
k. As a project of the Business Chamber, YiEP will promote the biblical principles of
morality, integrity, honesty, hard work, and punctuality among others.
l. At the zonal level the Business and Entrepreneurship Chamber shall continue to
organize seminars. In addition to that however, it will seek to create business
opportunities though the connection of ideas, and will wake young people up to the
opportunities that are available within their environments. By that, the Chamber shall
‘push’ young people into economic ventures in their immediate environments that
will fetch them money, and which may form the basis of their source of livelihood.

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Participants may be required to form small teams for these entrepreneural venture or
do them at the personal level.
m. Political Chamber shall continue at the national level and shall have branches in
tertiary institutions which shall pick members from their first years on campus. Entry
into the National Chamber shall be on merit and shall be competitive. The Church
shall commit itself to developing cohorts in the National Chamber for a specified
duration (say 2 years) on a selected content on discipleship, the constitution of Ghana,
public speaking, and other relevant contents. As part of their training, participants
shall be required to regularly visit the Parliament House and avail themselves of state
functions at various levels. This shall be part of the intentional nurturing component
of the Chamber. On the campuses, Political Chamber shall require its members to go
for leadership positions in the SRC and NUGS, and at the hall, department, classroom,
and other levels. Candidates from the home context shall also be required to vie for
leadership positions in their communities such as serving as assembly members, unit
committee members, etc. This shall be part of their assessment.
n. We shall continue to provide sponsorship opportunities for needy youth both in
academic studies and artisanship. We shall endeavor to raise sponsors for this worthy
cause.
o. We shall encourage the replication of mega youth watch night prayer meetings all
across the country. In Accra, we shall retouch the phase of the watch night service by

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putting in place an organizing committee to be made up of a technical team, media
and IT team, publicity team, prayer team, etc. Again, in Accra, we shall explore the
possibility of splitting the mega youth watchnight into two zones – Accra West Zone
and Accra East Zone. The first and the last watch night sessions for every year shall,
however, continue to be held as joint services.
p. We shall promote the potentials of young people in the arts. We shall work hard to
help young people develop their potentials and to step into the public space to touch
lives for Christ.
q. We shall continue to resource the national youth choir. We shall encourage them to
bring teenagers on board or create a junior choir for the junior youth.
r. From time to time we shall gather the various youth choirs for Youth Ministry music.
This will help to sharpen the skills of the choirs, encourage youth involvement, and
improve the quality of music in our assemblies.
s. We shall continue the efforts expended in starting a movie industry (PentOnyx). We
shall seek to sponsor some of the key personnel in Pent Onyx for further learning.
t. ‘Stage on Fire,’ the Ministry’s competitive performing arts event which has so far
been limited to campuses shall be opened to the Areas of the Church. It shall be an
avenue for spotting talents for PentOnyx.
u. We shall give the Youth Quiz a phase lift. Segments will be introduced to cover other

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areas of life that make a holistically developed young person. We shall also introduce
a section on Vision 2023 and the vision of the Youth Ministry. There shall also be a
new component that creates the avenue for young people to compete, based on the
number of verses of the Bible they have committed to memory.
v. We shall explore the possibility of introducing a recommendation system between
PENSA and the mother church by which students will be transferred to their existing
or new local assemblies (necessitated by their national service postings) upon the
completion of their courses. Their gifts and unique abilities shall be especially noted
and captured in the transfer and recommendation data as well.
w. We shall continue to work with the PENSA Financial Guidelines. We shall explore
the possibility of developing an accounting system (both soft and hard) for PENSA
to be used universally.
x. We shall complete work on getting a single PENSA constitution for operation at both
the grassroots level (institutional level) and the top levels (sector and national).
y. Specialized ministry shall incorporate various functions from Vision 2023 on people
with disabilities.
z. The Pentecost Writers’ Contest shall continue. We shall seek to publish the content
gathered so far and encourage the winners over the years to come out with their own
books.

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aa. We shall initiate efforts to extend the Pentecost Professionals Networks to PENSA
students.
bb. We shall explore the option of starting a youth ministry career fair.
cc. We shall commit ourselves to bridging the gap between PENSA students and the
PIWCs, English assemblies, and the local assemblies.
dd. We shall mobilize gospel artistes and other celebrities in our church from time to time
for the purposes of extending pastoral care to them.
ee. We shall provide standard prototype drawings for PENSA building projects together
with the Estate Office of the Church. This shall come in handy with various sizes and
designs to fit various congregational sizes and locations.

PENSA INTERNATIONAL
In Vision 2023, the leadership of the Church has chosen to use PENSA as a strategic tool for
groundbreaking missions work across the globe, the establishment of more PENSA branches in the
nations, and for the creation of a global community that will enhance professional networking and
mutual help for all PENSA members and alumni. Being the founding nation of PENSA, we shall
commit to advancing this global agenda by offering the necessary support needed. This shall cover
the areas of providing human resource, financial resources and logistics, ideas and strategies among
others.
DRAFT
The National Executive Committee of the Youth Ministry
17th October, 2019

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