When is a youth worker finished discipling a young person? I recently debated this question with peers at an urban ministry conference. Many said discipleship efforts could stop when a young person reached age 25, allowing time for the young person to finish college and help them get started on adult life.

Knowing that many young people need significant guidance through their 20s, I suggested a better target was age 30.

From Disciple to Transformer
In urban communities, we need our young people to become more than just responsible adults. We need them to be community transformers, as was Nehemiah. Moving someone from being a “good” person to committed community transformer requires time, role modeling, challenges and opportunities.

In many youth settings, there may not be as much urgency for youth to develop into community pillars; but urban communities–with high unemployment rates, gangs, low performing schools and violence–need all available assets. We need those we’re discipling to become educators, civic officials, business owners, police officers and church leaders.

Someone has to lead. Why not educated young people who know the need for stability? Why not those who are intimately acquainted with the community?

Committing to the Long-Range Goal
Some might say these are laudable goals for young people but argue this is not youth ministry proper. However, that would be short-sighted, because developing the leaders urban communities need requires starting early and developing them through an extended period of time. Shaping minds and preparing a person for community effectiveness is not easy. We recognize the importance of long-term investment when it comes to missions; similar attention is needed to transform urban communities.

For us at Harambee, we are never done discipling and developing successful young people, such as Marlene, Tara-Lin and Jamaal. All three participated in our Junior Staff Program as teens, graduated college and have enormous potential to transform their communities.

We’re Not Done
Marlene grew up in a housing project. Her father left, and her mother struggles financially. Marlene earned a degree in engineering and physics from Westmont College and works for an oil company in Colorado. While in college she served on the steering committee of the National Youth Summit in Washington, D.C.; but we aren’t done with Marlene.

Tara-Lin and her sister take care of their teenage brother and sister, which they’ve done for years—even while Tara-Lin was earning a B.S. in kinesiology from the University of Southern California. Tara-Lin was the drum major for an award-winning drum corps, as well as the salutatorian of her graduating class. She volunteered at Harambee and created curriculum on the dangers of sexually-transmitted diseases, which we currently use with our youth. We’re not done with Tara-Lin.

Jamaal never lived with his parents. He failed every class during ninth grade; but committed himself to Christ, worked hard in school and is one class shy of his B.A. in youth ministry from Azusa Pacific University. He set course records in the Ft. Worth, Texas, police academy as he pursued a life-long dream to become a police officer. We’re not done with Jamaal.

What remains to be done with these three? At this point, discipleship looks like coaching. Because of the relational equity we’ve developed with these young people, we will continue coaching them to step up and play a positive role in the community through acts such as seeking church membership, serving on civic or ministry committees and tithing their assets.

As these goals are met, there will be new opportunities to coach them toward the next steps in their lives as leaders.