Young People Ministry is the Same Everywhere in the World

The last time I was part of a Cantonese fellowship was back in 1996: Philadelphia Fellowship.  It was an attempt to connect Genesis, the church's English Youth Fellowship where I was the chairperson, with the Cantonese Youth Fellowship.  Even though I was born in Hong Kong, the experiment to bridge the two fellowship was a trying one for me.  Having grown up in the English Congregation, I felt like a fish out of water; trying to express myself in Cantonese, Bible Study in Cantonese, play in Cantonese.

Flash forward 15 year - a year after I took the leap of faith and preach for the first time in Cantonese. 

In Panama, I had two options: to speak in Cantonese or to speak in Spanish.  The choice to a easy one to make but a difficult one to embrace.  My mind is screaming in English, but I needed speak complete in Cantonese... and not your typical Hong Kong Cantonese/Chinglish, but Cantonese complete void of English.  The funny thing is that I found it easier in Thailand in 2006, learning a completely new language rather than "perfecting" my broken Cantonese.

But the young people here, full of love and grace, welcomed me into their community.  I found the foundation young people ministry is exactly the same as the one I'm familiar with in Canada.  As Rev Lau will put it:

有得食, 有得玩, 有得講

Or as Dawn Haglund, quoted in Robert Webber, The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World.  Dawn states the older paradigm was behave, believe, and then belong. Young people ministry have come to value a sense of belonging as primary.  Some churches taught (and still teach) that first you believe, then you behave, and you finally belong.  But young people ministries are more or less reversing this order out of a love for people far from God.  Their philosophy is first you belong, then you believe, and finally you behave. 

This was evident even on the second full day in Panama, after enjoying an afternoon of mall hopping, swimming and dinner with the young people, we can get into deeper life question.

Dumplings dinner with the next-gens in Panama