The reason I’m so passionate about the ministry of Dare 2 Share is because of the profound impact it had on me 20 years ago when I was a youth leader. At the time, I was a full-time youth pastor, but I wasn’t seeing the transformation in students’ lives that I’d always dreamed of. I knew something was missing.
Then, through a series of God moments, I found myself connected to Dare 2 Share. As I began to apply what I learned from that ministry, my own ministry radically changed. Young people began coming to faith, and they started reaching their friends with the Gospel. The vision I had for youth ministry came to life because of how Dare 2 Share helped me reshape my approach.
One of the most foundational shifts in my thinking was expanding my vision to include the teenagers in my community who weren’t connected to any youth group. God began to grow my heart for the lost students in my area. The words of Matthew 9:36 become more personal as I considered the teenagers who were part of my mission field:
When He saw the crowds, He had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
At Dare 2 Share, we identify “the crowds” in our vision statement: Every teen, everywhere, hearing the Gospel from a friend. The crowds are the 1 billion teenagers on the planet. We want to see youth leaders from all over the world raised up to mobilize their student to reach “the crowds” in their communities.
A vision for every community
So what does every teen, everywhere, hearing the Gospel from a friend look like in your community? Simply put, how many teenagers are there in your community who don’t yet know Jesus?
A few years ago, I was having a conversation about this very topic with the youth pastor at my local church in Arvada, Colorado. Together, we identified that there are 14,000 teenagers in our community who need to be reached with the Gospel. Here’s how we arrived at that number:
- First, we identified how many teenagers attend the middle schools and high schools in our community—public, private, and home school combined: 14,650.
- Then, we added up the number of students who are plugged into churches and youth groups in our area: 650.
- Lastly, we subtracted the churched kids from the total school population, and that gave us the number of teenagers who need to be reached with the Gospel in our area: 14,000.
This became our local expression of every teen, everywhere, hearing the Gospel from a friend: all 14,000 teenagers in Arvada, Colorado, hearing the Gospel from a friend.
A vision for your community
Now, let’s ask the same question for your area:
- How many teenagers are in your community?
- How many teenagers are plugged into a local church?
- How many teenagers still need to be reached with the Gospel?
Chances are, the number of teens in your community far exceeds what you and your students can reach on your own. The solution? Networks. Prioritize building relationships with other youth pastors in your area and work together to reach all the teens in your community by teaching students to pray for, care for, and share the Gospel with their peers.
If you want to start or improve a Gospel Advancing network in your area, check out this article and curriculum that will walk you through it step by step. Together you can reach them all!
