In December 2024, the youth of Hope Community Church (Nelson) led an entire Sunday service—a result of intentional discipleship and equipping from the wider church community.
The service was followed by the baptisms of David, Carter, Helena, Pieter, and James, and a picnic lunch at Aniseed Valley in the Tasman/Nelson region.
Pastor Daryl Bay writes:
“We’ve been so encouraged by the fruit in our youth ministry, with a steady stream of baptisms. This is the result of a long-term, intentional investment from an amazing team of parents, volunteer leaders, and others from the church family over a long period of time.
"In 2024 some parents attended Rutland Street Church in Christchurch where they witnessed a youth-led service, with young people doing all the active serving roles from preaching to greeting people at the door. They loved it and suggested we could look at doing something similar at Hope.”
Daryl and the team worked with a group of senior youth to equip them and support them to grow. This included an intentional discipleship trip over to the West Coast where they taught through the key passage, then at youth group camp they were taught the text again.
Three or four young people make up the teaching team on a youth Sunday, Daryl says:
“I work with these young people on reading the text, drawing out observation, explanation and application—we keep it super simple. We have a couple of practices ahead of time so they are comfortable up on the stage, and they also have a chance to give and receive feedback. They give one thing that the speaker can improve on, and one thing they appreciated. By the time they get up to deliver their talks I’m sitting there in the congregation absolutely beaming.”
And the wider church loves it:
“The youth absolutely knocked it out of the park, the church loves seeing our youth lead like this. They’re getting the opportunity to serve and lead in a range of ways—from greeting and welcoming, as musicians and singers, and as Bible teachers. As a church we were so encouraged to see faith being expressed so well with strong biblical foundations and application to life.”
Daryl says they are aiming for two of these youth-led services a year, but that they are really the result of a wider church commitment to intergenerational ministry.
“It’s an intentional spillover of encouraging our youth to not just attend things but to lead them them—at a recent prayer night we had 15 teens there, and a number helped lead. This is a ripple effect out of that youth space. We’ve really emphasised the intergenerational language and vision— where teenagers and children are not just present in gathered worship but known, active in serving, engaged in learning and being learned from.”
After being without a full time youth pastor, a number of parents and people within the church have stepped up, including Allen Carbon who took on a part-time role as the Youth Coordinator. Daryl and others have stepped into more active teaching and discipleship roles within the youth ministry, and so youth ministry has become a whole-church focus—one that’s bearing fruit.
“We’ve had over 30 baptisms in 18 months. There have been a number of explicit steps of faith and clear expressions of the gospel among young people, including inviting their non-Christian friends to church.”
