Youth Need Leadership and Service Opportunities
Over the last few years, Bishops in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have had their work refocused on the youth of their wards. This includes anyone in primary or the youth program (ages of about 3 - 18). They are the future leaders, bishops, stake presidents, and teachers of the church. The are the future teachers, managers, entrepreneurs, politicians, and leaders in all aspects of our world. There is so much to distract them, and the time goes by so fast that getting them actual leadership or service opportunities is vital so they can grow in their faith, but also so they can learn to lead, and work to serve and save others.
As I have been called to work in this capacity the last few years, it has felt that this is a new focus - although it shouldn’t have been or shouldn’t feel new at all. The bishop is the president of the Aaronic Priesthood in a ward and holds those keys. Moving the focus to the youth knowing that makes perfect sense, and it should have always been there. It has not come without challenges. The adults have been "trained" over the years to come and see the bishop for everything and every decision. Freeing up time for the youth is still hard to do. I have come to see how important it is, but I'm still no place near where I think I should be.
I have recently discovered that the Lord has been telling us to do this through our prophets and leaders for a very long time. I have been studying some General Conferences from the early 1960's for fun and simply out of curiosity. Culturally, we are in a very different spot than the church and its members were 60 tears ago, and personally I’m very glad that we are. Doctrinally we know we are given “here a little, and there a little,” but even as we change over the years, much is the same. One thing I have noticed that is the same then as now is a heavy emphasis on youth participation and leadership as early as possible. In the years leading up to and in the early stages of the Vietnam war, the general authorities were telling the members in the United States that much more focus should be put on the youth. These youth would very shortly be drafted or called up to go to foreign places. They would be put into an ongoing war far from home, having all the temptations of the world put instantly in front of them. Other than the wearing a uniform for their country in a foreign land, I have a feeling that the youth today have many more challenges and a much worse set of temptations to deal with.
In 1960 Elder McConkie asked that while 18 and 19 year old serviceman were waiting in training camps for deployment, or when the had any time at all, that they be put to work in local wards, branches or stakes. He also added that "the whole program of the Church which deals with youth must be geared toward getting them ready for military service."
I have recently been wondering if we are being given the same advice and direction now for a different kind of war? What will the youth of today face and how much good can they do in the world over the coming decades?
