Birth of A Vision
[ Extracted and edited from D2Y2 Magazine – Introductory Issue, December 1995 ]
It all began one ordinary morning, almost one year ago now, when I was waiting in the presence of the Lord. A vision was birthed into my Spirit by the Lord for His church.
It first began with a sense of conviction that l was not doing enough in witnessing for Christ. The conviction matured into love and the love into a real burden for souls. The burden then increased in intensity until it was so overwhelming that I found myself actually weeping for the lost.
The Lord’s love for His lost sheep and His burden for evangelism was clearly impressed upon my heart as His top priority and yet it was the least practised in my life. As I acknowledged God’s dealing in me and committed myself to a life of evangelism, l found myself praying not only for the lost but equally as much for workers to be raised up and sent out to reap the harvest.
When I paused, God put His seed into my heart that would form the vision that was to follow. The seed of thought was that God was going to use the young people of Malaysia and all throughout Asia to fulfill the task of evangelism and that He was going to do it creatively.
As I pondered upon this thought, a mandate was then given to me that “and through you shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:3). When I read it again, I was made to see something different, that “and through you(th) shall all families of the earth be blessed”. God is interested in the needs of our young people but above that, He is interested to bless families. His Church is made up of families. He brings the lonely into families. He brings the lost into His church.
It was then that l received a clear direction to Reach All through Creative Evangelism (RACE). As l pieced it together, l realised that God was wanting to raise up Asian youths of this generation for a new and powerful work that He has planned for the furtherance of His Kingdom.
RACE then began to speak of the Race of Life as well as the Race for Time. Time is short and we are told to redeem it. RACE also speaks about a new generation that would carry the glorious presence of the Lord into the “promised land” – a Joshua and Caleb generation.
This is to be done not merely by experience or knowledge. It is to be successful not because of wealth or influence. And it will be multiplied not because of human wisdom and strategy but by total dependence on God and the way He wants to move. It is in knowing their God that the young “shall do great exploits” and indeed this shall be our theme (Daniel 11:32). It is going to be quantity only through quality.
It was a vision of a youth revival. Young people came together with their sparks and immediately created a bonfire.
Is it surprising that God would raise up Asian young men and women to equal their counterparts in the West who have been greatly used of the Lord? Indeed many have prayed for many years and are still praying, myself included, for such a move of God. I believe it is time.
I have often questioned, where were the Billy Grahams, Benny Hinns and George Mullers of Asia, who at a very young age responded to the call of God in their lives, never looked back and through their obedience have seen many souls enter into life with Christ.
I believe God is about to answer my question. As I pondered and prayed about what I had received from the Lord throughout the following months, the meditations of my heart were further translated into a vision.
lt was a vision of a youth revival. Young people came together with their sparks and immediately created a bonfire. The fire got bigger and brighter as more youths came together. Suddenly pockets of bonfires were beginning to form all throughout Malaysia until the whole country lighted up. Then balls of fire were seen shooting out of the country into other nations of the world.
The fires provided light to the lost. They provided warmth to the brokenhearted. Most of all, it brought about radical changes in the lives of all who came near them. As l pondered on this vision, I felt God’s heart calling out for the oneness of His Body. I felt the heart of Jesus praying John 17:21. He wants unity in His church so that many more will come to know Him as Saviour and Lord and that in all our labour for Him, nothing was more important than this focus.
It was truly an awesome scene. It was a youth explosion, creating such an impact and influence on the Kingdom of God. The creator wants to move through His young people by His Holy Spirit consistently and creatively to reach a lost world. He is calling Asian youths to rise up and take their positions in Christ. It is a call to a greater intimacy with Him, a closer walk and a deeper devotion to the extent that great exploits for the Kingdom of God would be inevitable.
As I began to share the vision and convictions of the Lord with some close friends, I realised that I was far from being alone with this burden. The more I shared, the more I realised that there are so many young people just waiting anxiously, and some with much frustration, for God’s answer to how they can channel all their zeal and energy, talents and time to a purpose which youths can identify with.
It was amazing as we shared our visions, how willing and prepared these friends of mine were to come together and combine our visions for the sole purpose of seeing His Kingdom come and His will be done.
I then began to understand that in order for unity in the body of Christ to be achieved, believers must first be ready and willing to unite their visions. Visions that come from God may be different in form but they are always similar in purpose.
Therefore, let us focus on the similarities and put aside our differences. I believe God desires to instill this truth in the hearts of His future leaders. As the saying goes, “unity in diversity” and may I add that this should be the ‘“specialty in Christianity”.
We need young people today to know their God and eventually do great exploits for Him!
God is not interested with just another movement or organisation. He is more interested in meeting the needs of His young people who will in turn be a blessing to many. In this case, He is interested in His young people and desires to move in and through them.
He wants us to play a major role in His plans. It is with this mandate that my wife and l have taken a step of faith to be used as His trumpet to sound in His army. We are initially forming together small groups of young adults to watch and pray for what the Lord’s further directions are. We then want to see more young adult groups set up in homes on a more permanent basis.
These groups are for the purposes of encouraging young adults in the Lord and for evangelism. It is within the vision that different groups catering to different needs will be established in order to be totally effective. For example, we see a group formed just to reach out to indifferent and backslidden youths.
With the opening of more homes, there will be more opportunities for growth in the Lord and for involvement in the ministry. We seek to see young adults partnering with God in “business”.
We want to see Young Entrepreneurs for Christ being raised up, for we believe that with an initiative attitude, ample opportunities, strong encouragement and support, will the Church then see a greater multiplication.
It is our desire to plan consistently for evangelistic meetings where our young people can be consistently and creatively involved in the work of evangelism. We want to be raised up as prayer warriors, as intercessors, as true worshippers.
We see youths being sent out to minister in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not only going to be merely seminars and conventions, and more seminars and conventions that is going to do the job, but simple faith and obedience in doing what God has placed in our hearts and hands to do and to endeavour to do it well for His glory.
It is not only sufficient to motivate. We also need to put what we have learned into practice. Do they who are perfect have any reason for further practice? But we youths are all still working towards attaining the perfection for which Christ has already attained for us. We need all the practice we can get and our aim is to achieve nothing less than excellence in the things of God.
We need to be mobilised. We need to not just wait but create. Create opportunities to put God’s Word into practice and through our obedience we shall see God multiplying His Church. It is therefore in the mobilising of the motivated that we shall see multiplication. This is what l believe God wants to do.
It is high time undivided attention is given to the future leaders of our Church and nation. It is high time we unite our visions. When we do so, we unite our strengths, our efforts, our resources, our prayers, our expertise and by doing so, we redeem the time and are able to be truly effective in our service to God.
Our strategy will lie therefore in networking together with young adults, with parents, with churches, mission agencies, youth organisations and any other individuals who carry in their hearts a burden to invest into the lives of our youths and see them mightily used by God.
Through networking shall we be able to effectively create opportunities for our young people in order that they may be mobilised to multiply. It is further within the vision that we believe God wants to establish a place or centre where youths can gather to fellowship with each other and encourage one another.
A kind of youth centre, a neutral and non-threatening ground where youths can go to for help, for counsel or just pure clean fun. The youth ministry is a ministry in its own right. If the youths are not coming to us, we need to go to them. Two days in a week set aside for their needs is far from sufficient. There are many hurting and confused youths out there. Some of them are even in our own homes. Let us attend to them collectively as well as individually.
Let us partner with God and give them something to look forward to, something to shout about, something consistent, exciting, lasting with eternal values and rewards. And may those who are touched and blessed in turn be taught and given the opportunity to be Ambassadors for Christ in reaching out to touch, bless and teach others.
God’s desire is that we young people would catch the vision lest we perish (Proverbs 29:18). It is by the Holy Spirit that we receive God’s vision. And it shall be by His Spirit that all visions come to pass.
No, we are not youth experts! Just young people carrying out God’s vision and wanting only to be obedient. With whatever He has placed in our hands, we want to use it and be fruitful. We therefore invite young people to practice along with us. Put in what we have learned about evangelism. Mix it with what we have learned about prayer and worship. Place it onto the Firm Foundation and bake it in the fire of the Holy Spirit. Together we want to make a change for ourselves as well as for the world we live in.
We invite you to pray and stand with us as the Holy Spirit leads you to be a part of what God is doing and about to do among His young Asian Ambassadors. Let us uphold one another, help one another, encourage one another and rejoice with one another. Surely we shall be able to do much more for our youths as a bonfire than we can do as a spark. United we stand, divided we fall!
D2Y2, which stands for Don’t Despise Your Youth, was an official Asian Youth Ambassador (AYA) magazine birthed out in the late 90s. The printed materials communicated dynamic and effective encouragement to and from the Church, with special emphasis on the knowledge and experiences of our Christian youths, which we believe the content is still relevant and applicable in this current generation.
This was the first article written by Pastor Kenneth Chin that was published in the first D2Y2 Magazine. A piece that described his early pursuit of the vision God unfold to him to reach out to youths and to rise up Malaysians warriors. An indelible vision that had kept Pastor Kenneth Chin to consistently and faithfully sow among generations that are to come.