Pentecostal Worship, Preaching, and Ministry — Unit 9: Youth, Discipleship, and Small Groups

Key Verse

"Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain why Pentecostals expect God to work in children and young people, and how a church can welcome them.

2. Describe discipleship as the Bible teaches it and as Pentecostals practice it, joining Word, Spirit, prayer, community and mission.

3. Describe the biblical and historical roots of small groups, and set out a simple small-group meeting that makes room for the gifts of the Spirit.

4. State the main objections to our practice and explain how Pentecostals answer them.

5. Plan a way to train and oversee young people and small-group leaders safely.

The Voice of This Unit

This unit is written from inside the classical Pentecostal tradition, for pastors who belong to it. It is practical. We state fairly the questions that others, and honest Pentecostals, ask about our way of making disciples. Safeguards for those who lead are treated further in Unit 10.

God Works in the Young

Pentecostals have always expected God to work among children and young people. The prophecy of Joel, quoted by Peter, says "Your young men shall see visions" (Acts 2:17). The Bible shows God calling the young: Samuel heard the Lord's voice as a boy (1 Samuel 3), and Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures "from childhood," which are "able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). Jesus welcomed children and said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God" (Mark 10:14).

The responsibility begins at home. Moses told Israel to teach God's words "diligently to your children," talking of them "when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up" (Deuteronomy 6:7). Paul wrote, "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). The church supports parents; it does not replace them. A wise pastor asks first what the families need, not only what the youth program needs.

Children and the Spirit

Pentecostals have taught that children can receive Christ, be filled with the Spirit, and use spiritual gifts. Jesus' promise in Luke 11:13 has no minimum age. But children need gentle care. A leader must not pressure a child to produce a sign, or to "get" something so as to please adults. Teach the child simply who Jesus is and invite him to ask. Let the Spirit do the work and let parents be present. The gift of tongues is not a performance. The doctrine of Spirit baptism is taught in Course 2.

Young people today

Young people face questions that older generations did not: pornography, social media, pressure at school, family breakdown, poverty, and in many places the lure of migration. Some leave the church when they reach adulthood. Research on this is mixed and varies by country, so we should not state exact figures, but pastors in many lands report the same sorrow. The reasons are usually not mainly about the music. They include shallow teaching, no adult friends, and fear of asking hard questions. The church that answers questions honestly, gives real work to young people, and puts mature friends beside them is more likely to keep them.

What Discipleship Is

Jesus' last command was, "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19-20). A disciple is a learner who follows Jesus, is shaped by His teaching, and helps others to follow Him. Discipleship is not a program that ends. It begins at new birth and continues through life.

Acts 2:42 gives a picture of the first church: "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers." Pentecostals read this as a pattern for discipleship that joins five things.

Word. A disciple reads and learns the Scriptures and is taught sound doctrine. Pentecostal discipleship that neglects teaching produces people who depend on experience alone.

Spirit. A disciple is filled with the Spirit and learns to walk in His power, to use gifts and to bear His fruit. Course 3 teaches the gifts, with the fruit and character they need.

Prayer. A disciple learns to pray alone and with others. Many Pentecostal churches have a strong culture of prayer, and it should be passed on to the young.

Community. A disciple belongs to a family of believers who encourage, correct and serve one another. "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another" (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Mission. A disciple witnesses and serves. Acts 1:8 links the power of the Spirit with witness. A young believer who is never given anything to do will either grow bored or grow proud.

Passing it on

Paul's instruction to Timothy shows the chain: "And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). Four generations are in view: Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and the others they teach. A pastor should ask who he is training today to train others.

A simple path for a new believer might include: a visit within a week of the decision; a short course on salvation, the Bible, prayer and the church; water baptism (Unit 7); an invitation to seek the fullness of the Spirit; a place in a small group; and a first task of service. Each step is small and personal.

Small Groups

Roots in Scripture and history

The early church met in two ways. "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart" (Acts 2:46). And Acts 5:42 says that "daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." The church met in large gatherings and in homes. Paul sent greetings to churches that met in houses, such as the one in the house of Priscilla and Aquila (Romans 16:3-5).

John Wesley, from whom our Holiness roots come, organized the early Methodists into societies and smaller classes in the 1700s, so that believers could pray, confess faults and encourage one another each week. Pentecostal churches have often used home prayer meetings and cottage meetings. In the later twentieth century many large churches, including the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul under David Yonggi Cho, used a cell-group structure in which the congregation is divided into small groups that meet in homes, and many churches in Latin America and Africa have followed similar models. Where governments restrict public worship, home groups have often been the way that the church survives. Course 1, Units 6 to 8, describes these regions.

A simple meeting

Paul described a gathering in which many take part: "Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26). A small group is an ideal place for this. A meeting of about ninety minutes might include:

1. Welcome and a simple meal or greeting (15 minutes).

2. Worship, with simple songs, led by someone with a guitar, a recording, or just voices (15 minutes).

3. The Word. The group reads a short passage and discusses it with three questions: What does it say? What does it mean? What will I do? The leader guides, and does not lecture (30 minutes).

4. Ministry. The group prays for each other's needs, and gifts such as prophecy, encouragement and prayer for the sick may be used as in Unit 6 (20 minutes).

5. Plans for service and a closing prayer (10 minutes).

Small groups give people a chance to speak, to be known and to use gifts without the pressure of the large congregation. They also help new believers who find a large Sunday service overwhelming.

Leaders and oversight

A group leader does not need a degree. He or she needs good character, a love for people, and a willingness to be taught. Choose leaders carefully, and train them with the pastor each month. Every group should have an assistant leader who is learning to lead, so that groups can multiply. Every group should be answerable to the pastors. A small group that is not accountable to anyone can drift into error or into one person's control.

Objections and Our Answers

Objection 1: Pentecostal discipleship stresses experience and produces shallow Christians.

Critics, including Reformed and Baptist teachers, say that churches built on experience and emotion neglect doctrine. They note that excitement fades and that people who chase experiences often leave when the excitement ends.

Our answer. Some of our churches have deserved the warning. Our answer is not to give up the Spirit but to join Word and Spirit. Jesus promised that the Spirit would teach and remind (John 14:26), and Paul commanded Timothy to give attention to reading, exhortation and doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13). A Pentecostal church should train its people in the Bible with as much care as it prays for them.

Objection 2: Separating young people from adults is a modern invention.

Some argue that dedicated youth programs divide the generations, and that the Bible shows families, not age-grouped ministries, as the setting for discipleship.

Our answer. There is truth here. Scripture shows older teaching younger (Titus 2:2-8), and a church that separates its youth from all other generations does them harm. Yet young people also need friends their own age who share their questions. Our answer is to do both: youth gatherings with mature adult leaders, and mixed-age worship, service and meals that bring generations together. The youth should not be left to entertainment alone but should be given responsibility.

Objection 3: Small groups weaken the church, spread error, or become a platform for gossip and control.

Some pastors worry that small groups drift from the church's teaching, or that a strong leader can build a following of his own.

Our answer. The risk is real, so oversight is needed. Hebrews 13:17 teaches respect for those who lead, and Acts 15 shows that local gatherings were connected to the larger church. Choose trustworthy leaders, give them clear teaching material, meet with them regularly, forbid any one person from becoming the group's "authority," and make sure everything is open to the pastors. Small groups serve the church; they do not replace it.

Objection 4: Prophecy and gifts in small groups lead to confusion.

Critics from outside and some inside worry that private groups, without a pastor, will allow false prophecy or emotional manipulation.

Our answer. Paul's rule applies in the home as in the sanctuary: "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge" (1 Corinthians 14:29). Teach the group leaders to test words by Scripture, to receive prophecy as encouragement and not as orders for life decisions, and to bring any serious word to the pastors. See Course 3, Unit 8, on discernment.

Pastoral Application

Pastor Daniel serves a church of about seventy people in a market town. The young people between fourteen and twenty-two meet on Friday nights, but attendance has fallen. Two older teenagers say, "We love Jesus, but the meetings are only noise, and no one answers our questions about school and about doubts."

Pastor Daniel does five things. First, he asks the young people to meet with him and two mature adults, and he listens without defending. Second, he changes the Friday meeting: shorter singing, a Bible discussion in small circles of five or six, and time to ask any question. Third, he invites two young adults, who are still in good standing in the church, to serve as leaders, and he trains them with the other adult leaders each month. Fourth, he meets the parents and asks how the church can help the home. Fifth, he ensures that no adult is ever alone with a young person, and that all leaders are known to the church (Unit 10). After six months the Friday group has grown, and two of the teenagers begin leading a small prayer group in a home.

Summary

Pentecostals expect God to work among children and young people, supporting parents in their duty to teach. Discipleship joins Word, Spirit, prayer, community and mission, in the pattern of Acts 2:42, and it passes from one generation of believers to the next as 2 Timothy 2:2 teaches. Small groups have roots in the house meetings of Acts, in Wesley's classes, and in modern cell-group churches; a good meeting offers worship, the Word, ministry and plans for service, in which the gifts may be used under the testing of 1 Corinthians 14:29. We answer the charges of shallow experience, age-segregation, loss of control and confusion by joining Word to Spirit, mixing generations, giving oversight, and testing every word.

Further Reading

• Allan Anderson, An Introduction to Pentecostalism (2nd ed., 2014).

• Melvin Hodges, The Indigenous Church (1953).

• Donald Miller and Tetsunao Yamamori, Global Pentecostalism (2007).

• Gordon D. Fee, God's Empowering Presence (1994).

• Jonathan Edwards, The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God (1741).

• John Wesley, "The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies" (1743), a primary source.

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