SCRIPTURE UNION (NIGERIA) WARRI AREA

2020 WEEK OF EMPHASIS ON YOUTH WORK IN COLLABORATION WITH

CHURCHES

PREAMBLE

Scripture Union is a non-denominational, inter-denominational Christian

Organization, which was founded in 1867 in the UK, and has been in Nigeria since
1885

Scripture union works with the churches to:

a) To make God’s good news known to Children, young people and families
b) To encourage people of all ages to meet God daily through the bible and
prayer.

So that:
i. They may come into personal faith in our Lord Jesus Christ
ii. Grow in Christian maturity
iii. Become both committed church members and servant of a world in need
These aims and Objectives are being pursued through various specialized
ministries, and the continuous partnership with churches and volunteers. Today we
are here to talk particularly on our work amongst youth, and how you can partner
with us in this effort.

THE CHALLENGE

The neglect of reaching the younger generation is already taking its toll in the
society. It is our cooperate responsibility to ensure that youths in our society are
properly directed. As Christians, we are in the best position to do this. We alone
have the gospel that can bring true transformation, and impart grace to say no to
unrighteousness. If we do not reach out to the youths, some other persons and
ideology will reach out to them and I can tell you for certain that they are already
reaching out to them – some wicked politicians are turning them to hired assassins
and cultist, the Muslims are attracting them with money and turning them to
radical jihadist, and the social media is introducing all forms of immorality to them.

Now, more than ever we must aggressively focus on youth work. We must explore
all available means to effectively reach out to these young ones. We owe them this
responsibility; this is not the time for you to sit down and complain about them
without doing anything. We are calling on this church to look critically at the youth
ministry, starting from youths in your church, and youths in the neighborhoods.
What discipleship programs do you have for these young ones? How effective has
it been? Can it be improved upon? How can we reach out to those outside our
church walls? We must be willing to pay the prices or chose to suffer the
consequence of neglecting these young ones; the menace of cultism, kidnap,
trafficking, drug abuse, armed robbery, under-productivity, broken lives and
broken homes…

WHAT SCRIPTURE UNION DO AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE

For 135years scripture union has been in Nigeria, we have paid undistracted
attention to children and youth ministry. Scripture Union reaches out to youth in
the following ways:

1. School Visitation: Scripture Union mobilizes and trains volunteers to visit

students in schools, and reach out to them in morning devotions, and
discipleship in small groups (school Group fellowship). Programs like bible
study, talks, seminar, Aid for AIDS and life skills are also held in secondary
schools

2. Bible Engagement and Literature: Scripture Union has special bible

engagement packages that help young people to meet God daily through the
bible, as we believe that God’s word is the key to transforming any life. Our
materials for young people includes Daily Power (a daily devotional for young
people), Student Bible Student Outline, Search Magazine and numerous
literature published by the ministry for young people.

3. Schools Rally/Youth Outreach: We gather young people twice a year for

schools rally, where the gospel is presented to them in a youth appropriate
way. We are also involved in outreach to youth in communities through indoor
and outdoor evangelistic programs.

4. Life Skill Program: Our Life Skill activities are for teenagers and young
adults, with the goal of impacting them with the necessary skills to face
life’s challenges as they transits to adulthood. It is important you help them
develop skills on resisting pressure, decision making, goal setting, etc. Also
the club provides a platform to disciple young people to become sound in your
faith through bible study and prayers, and it is spiced with recreational
activities such as games and sports.
 5. Holiday Camp: Many can testify of the impact of SU holiday camp on young
people, it is usually a 5-day long camp during the long vacation. Various
programs are put in place to address the challenges facing these young ones,
and there is ample time for interacting and counseling them.

HOW YOU CAN PARTNER WITH US

We seek partnership on two levels:
1. As a Church
2. As Individuals

As a Church
1. We want to encourage you to reach young people around you, so we are
making ourselves available to train youth workers in churches
2. We also encourage Churches to adopt our materials for their youth
ministries
3. We also seek financial partnership with Churches to run our programs; we
are grateful to churches that before now have been supporting us, and
encourage them to continue
As Individuals
1. We encourage you to volunteer as school visitors
2. We can provide materials and training for you to help you run a youths your
neighborhood
3. We also seek financial support from individuals.

CONCLUSION: Where the battle rages, there we must concentrate our forces,
the youth are prime target of the enemy, and only the gospel can resist the
onslaught of the powers of darkness. It is for this reason Scripture Union Nigeria,
and Warri Area in particular is seeking for greater partnership with churches and
individuals, in our efforts to reach young people. We can make the difference if we
care.