Jordan (MNN) — When the Lord called the prophet Elijah home, his dedicated and trustworthy apprentice Elisha immediately took up the mantle and continued Elijah’s work. Ready and willing “Elisha’s” are a little harder to find in Jordan.
“Young people are not really joining the meetings [when we hold them] in a church. Sometimes, they are not even going to the church [at all],” says Abraham* of the Program for Theological Education by Extension (PTEE).
PTEE provides theological training to Arabic-speaking Christians and church leaders throughout the Arab World. Abraham and his fellow Gospel workers noticed young people, individuals between 17- and 20-years old, weren’t interested in PTEE’s traditional classroom approach.
“We call this [the] Youth Center program, [and it’s] connected with our schools,” Abraham says.
“If we say to them from the beginning, ‘we will give you a course or lecture’ they will not come.”
Then, PTEE took a different approach, and everything changed. Now, young Jordanians in their upper-teens meet with PTEE leaders each month. Each meeting has a theme geared toward young adults – music, film, sports, etc.
(Photo courtesy of Daniel Twal/Unsplash)
“Through football games or music, we have discussions,” Abraham says.
“We have received good feedback from many of them. They ask us to repeat these events again. We shared a story from the Old Testament and some Scripture from the New Testament; they liked it and asked us to repeat this again.”
Abraham says emerging young leaders are happy to join PTEE’s monthly meetings, and he hopes the conversations produce spiritual fruit.
“Our goal is to draw these young people near to the Lord, to give some discipleship teaching.”
They need your help to keep it going. Send an email to PTEE for details.
“We need some people who are interested in this [type of] work. If they are in Jordan, they can join us,” Abraham says.
“We need some people experienced in games and creative activities.”
*Pseudonym
Header image depicts a boy walking on the street in Jordan. (Photo courtesy of Craig Boudreaux/Unsplash)
