Greater Continuity and More Confident Evangelism

A youth group of ten is fragile. Two families move away, or two youths graduate, and the group is almost halved. A network of churches is far more durable: numbers ebb and flow in one congregation, but the wider fellowship endures, so a young person’s community doesn’t evaporate the moment a few people leave.

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24–25

Hebrews urges us to consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together but encouraging one another. For a young person in a small church, the sad truth is that there sometimes simply isn’t anyone close to their age group to be their “stirrer.” Combining youth gatherings is a sustainable way of obeying that command across the boundaries of our small congregations so that no youth has to grow up in the faith alone; that the youth of our churches can journey together toward the One who calls them all.

It is also rather hard to invite a non-Christian friend to a gathering with fewer people. The small size makes it feel exposed and awkward. A lively, well-sized combined gathering is far easier to invite friends into. Visitors can blend in, find a corner that fits them, and encounter a faith that is visibly shared by a healthy number.