Chinese Church Voices

{Corrected} A Post-80’s Pastor Counsels Young People

Chinese Church Voices is an occasional column of the ChinaSource Blog providing translations of original writing by Christians in China. The views represented are entirely those of the original author; inclusion in Chinese Church Voices does not imply or equal an endorsement by ChinaSource.


{Note: the previous version of this post had an error in translation. CCV regrets the error.}

In the translated article below, from a mainland publication, a post-80's pastor offers counsel to young believers based on his own experience.

These days, more and more young people are coming to the church. They bring a zeal for serving the Lord, but many of these fired up youths lose their way in the midst of their service. Many lose themselves, and there are even some that recant their faith. Phenomena like these break peoples hearts. How can the way to walk the path of faith be made clearer? How can we better understand ourselves?

Recently, Pastor Li, a post-80s pastor who has already served ten years, shared the lessons he learned as a youth, when he spent nearly a decade stumbling. I have organized his thoughts here, and I hope they will help Christian brothers and sisters.

1: Persevere Until The End

Pastor Li said, it is easy to be fired up when you are young, but today, many have trouble with perseverance. Often, young people easily set standards for themselves that are well above what they are capable of accomplishing. In any occupation, persistence is actually a very important characteristic. Non-Christians will work hard to learn how to be successful, seeking every method.

Speaking of the road he walked, Pastor Li put it this way: if you persevere, and you work hard, you will find a way. Of course, this does not mean persisting foolishly, nor does it mean drifting along aimlessly. It means actively exploring, though it will be bitterly difficult, but those moments of greatest difficulty are the moments God remembers. If you give up in the middle of the process, you will never see the fruits of your efforts.

2: You Cannot Escape Dealing With Your Own Problems

Techniques can be studied; methodology can also be studied. But there is one thing that cannot be learned from books, and that is moral training. Things like honesty, not being greedy, staying holy, etc.all of these can only be learned when walking with God, and only when you are walking with Him will you break through to victory in these areas.

Frequently, young people see difficulties in their environmentsthey become bound up by these difficulties, or other peoples problems influence them. But in reality, every situation has problems, and every set of conditions must be faced. The most important problem is not one of the conditions, but is rather facing the problems within oneself. Especially for young people, it is easy to enjoy playing, easy to shirk responsibility, and in marriage and parenting, they need to walk in victory step by step.

In conclusion, faith is about people and God having a personal relationship. Every person needs to be responsible to God, to take their faith seriously, take every ministry opportunity seriously, and build their own professionalism.

Original article: 85后牧者向青年基督徒的两点建议

Photo: Stepping Out, by Slices of Light, via Flickr

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