Where will our leaders come from? That’s an important question as we look across our churches and our diocese. In the old days, church leaders came on a boat or a plane from halfway around the world. They came across many miles to teach us about Jesus.

Today, people are looking at us to send them missionaries. The church in the North is not just surviving but thriving while so many other have adopted a mentality of decline.

Yet, as faithful clergy prepare to retire and lay leaders age, it reminds us all of the vital importance of youth ministry. Not youth ministry aimed just at entertainment or only to keep kids off the street, but real discipleship for our youth: teaching them to love God, to trust Jesus as Lord, and to reach out to their neighbours. Teaching them to be faithful Christians who, in their own time, can be helped like apprentices until they come into leadership in both their churches and their communities. “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

Did you know that, in many communities, the Sunday School is older than the church? The early missionaries knew that the best way to reach a community is to reach the children, and the children in those Sunday Schools grew up to be vestry members, musicians, lay leaders, deacons, priests, and bishops across the church.

The old missionaries were on to something! Sunday School and Youth Ministry isn’t an optional activity, it’s central to the work of the Church.

The youth of today need hope. Suicides and addictions are rampant. Social media encourages them to question who they are, but doesn’t offer any answers. Teens become parents without the support they need to raise a child. So many fall into pits of despair… and that’s exactly where Christ calls us to meet them, to reach out to youth in their struggle and lead them to the Lord and into the fellowship of the Family of God.

The time has come for the Diocese to hire an Inuit Youth Coordinator. A faithful, young leader with a pastor’s heart who knows the communities, knows the struggles, and who can mentor young leaders to bring real change. We need churches who are serious about reaching the youth in their community, humble leaders who are willing to take young people under their wing as apprentices, and congregations who get excited to share the peace and hope of the Gospel with those who come through their doors, especially those who are struggling and feeling lost. We need partners and supporters who are willing to provide money and resources for a new Youth Coordinator, so this person can travel far and wide, offering youth gatherings to disciple and mentor the next generation of Arctic Anglicans.

And most especially we need an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to stir up a revival among the youth! Join us in prayer today.