WHAT MUST CHANGE IN ME TO REACH THE YOUNG

When I think about our youth and young adults, I always ask myself: What changes must I make in order to connect them with Jesus and His Gospel? This question came alive for me at our EP Co-workers Retreat early this month.

The speaker Dr Graham Stanton spoke on “Living the Gospel.” Walking us through Romans chapters 12 to 16, he showed how Gospel living begins with sincere love, then moves into the tension between what we are doing now and what we are hoping for. The central thread was love: our ongoing debt to all, because Christ first loved us. That love anchors us. It teaches us to live faithfully in the present and hope for the future.

What I heard God whisper in that retreat was this: “Stop fighting against the structure and tradition. Let Me change you. You don’t need to change anything or anyone. Just be still. I am present.”

When Graham asked, “What is the one thing you are trying to change?”, my natural response was, “Nothing. I’m too tired and too old of trying.” But then the Spirit nudged me: “It’s not about changing others. It’s about letting Me change you.”

That shift—my shift—is what I believe our young people are longing for. They don’t need more rules, more criticism of what’s wrong. They need to see Jesus in someone whose life is being quietly transformed. They need to sense grace, transparency, doubt, wrestling—not perfection.

So, what must change in me?

Be still more often. Stop rushing to fix things. Stop assuming culture must be critiqued before love is shown. To let God’s presence soften my heart first.

Listen more than speak. Hear what the youth are afraid of, and what they wrestle with. Let their questions help me wrestle too.

Show that faith is messy but real. Let my failures, uncertainty, struggle be part of the story. Because when the youth see someone who still believes despite doubts, their hearts open more easily.

Live hope visibly. Not just talk about future glory but let hope shape how I treat people today—in kindness, in patience, in commitment—even when the fruit is not evident.

When God change me, the youth might feel safe approaching, seeing someone more human than “senior pastor” high up. They’ll see the Gospel as alive—not distant or rigid—but deeply shaping everyday life: work, relationships, tradition, structure. Perhaps, they may stop seeing tradition as baggage or structure as enemy, but as soil to live Gospel in.

Father, forgive me for all the times I have tried to lead by changing the structure and tradition, intentionally or unintentionally, when You were inviting me to be still. Teach me to welcome Your transforming work in my own heart. Let that work ripple out—to our youth, our young adults, to every single person who’s watching whether church is more about rules or about the presence of Jesus.

May I connect them with You clearly, not by being perfect, but by being honest, loving, courageous. May Your Gospel be lived, seen, breathed among us.

In this way, I believe we won’t just teach the Gospel; we will embody it. And in embodied Gospel, things change—not only in our youth, but in all of us.

Being His missional disciple,

Pastor Forest