Monthly column for youth leaders: going for the golden goals

Challenging and encouraging young people to take risks

Let me take you back to the far off, glorious days of the Euro 96 Football Championships.

Throughout the tournament teams had played safe in extra time, and every period of extra time had been goal-less, with sides preferring caution rather than risk instant defeat. But then came the England vs. Germany semi-final. Both sides threw caution to the wind in search of the 'Golden Goal' and gave their all in a pulsating end to end half hour that had goalposts hit and open goals missed. We all know how it ended.

Euro 96 shows us two different attitudes to risk taking. We can play it safe, settling for low risk, low gain approach to life; or we can gamble, going for broke accepting the possibility that we may fall flat on our faces in the process. Playing safe and sticking with what we know is not necessarily a good thing. Risk taking is a normal and essential part of human growth and development. What if Peter and Andrew had answered Jesus' call by saying 'That's a tempting offer Jesus, but what about our boats? We've built up a nice little business here and you aren't even offering National Insurance stamps or a pension plan.'

In our Christian development, as in our physical development, stepping into the unknown and taking risks is a vital part of the equation. Risks can be good.

And here lies our problem. Young people today can be less inclined to take risks than was once the case. Whether it be not wanting to join in a game and risk looking stupid, or deciding against a year off in order to start paying off the student loan, the no-risk culture is firmly ingrained in our young people. It is seen too in the teenager who won't tell anyone at school about his belief in Jesus, for fear of rejection.

Christian parents are often not a great help on this one. I'm generalising here, but the very fact that Christian parents are so supportive and concerned about the welfare of their offspring can be a double-edged sword. It's right that parents should want their children to be physically safe, to be happy and to do well at school, but sometimes these things can get in the way of what their children need in order to take significant steps forward in their Christian lives. In a nutshell, many Christian parents want mutually exclusive things. They want their children to grow into strong mature Christian disciples, and they want them to be kept safe. If any of us are to grow into maturity, we need to be exposed to risk, we need to not be safe, to be in environments where we are going to be out of depth and dependent on God.

So what is our role as youth leaders in all this? Well, let me suggest three things that we need to find ways of doing. First, we should be challenging and encouraging our young people to break out of the no-risk mentality, providing opportunities for them to take and urging them to make the most of them.

Second, we need to create an environment where the young people feel able to get involved. Most of us are more willing to go out on a limb if we feel that we won't be alone. The knowledge of your support is probably going to be one of the decisive factors in persuading nervous young Christians to step out into the unknown. Part of creating this environment may well be talking with parents and reassuring them about whatever it is that you have got planned.

Third, we have to provide our young people with an example of mature Christians who are prepared to put themselves on the line. Are you willing to take risks and put yourself in difficult positions for the sake of the gospel? Or can you find yourself playing it safe and sticking to what you know? If you won't put yourself in the firing line, can you really expect your young people to do so? Over to you.

Steve Couch

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Monthly column for youth leaders: going for the golden goals

Challenging and encouraging young people to take risks

Steve Couch

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