A generation Y contributes at a conference
Generation Y, as it has come to be classified by the 4 to 14 Global Initiative, that is, young people between the ages eighteen to twenty nine, present to us a great opportunity for positive change and transformation. This opportunity sometimes goes unnoticed and untapped all together, and we miss out on the positive change and transformation that could have occurred, because of the beliefs and stereotypes that have been held against young people.
After over a decade of working with Generation Ys, I would like to share three reasons why I am convinced, and believe that they present a great opportunity for positive change and transformation.
Youth are leaders today, only continuing with greater responsibility and influence tomorrow. We have all heard the popular saying “Young people are the leaders of tomorrow.” Whilst that might be true to some extent, depending on what leadership responsibility and influence one is thinking about, I dare say they are leaders today. Definitely, there are tasks and responsibilities that require older people who have acquired more wisdom and experience. But why should we wait for tomorrow in order to expect today’s young people to be responsible and influential? I believe that if we treated and trusted the young people as people who could offer meaningful and productive leadership today, other than promising them leadership tomorrow – when they are old – they would raise to the occasion, they would surprise us with what they are able to do and to achieve. I have discussed in another article, click here to read the full article, that “Youth leadership, beyond youth activities, will not only enable young people to discover and develop their leadership capabilities but will enable us, the beneficiaries of their leadership, to enjoy the impact and results of their leadership today other than wait to receive it and enjoy it “tomorrow”.
Youth are one of the greatest missionary forces of our time. My understanding of mission here is “Everything that God sends us into the world to do.” There is a lot that God requires us to accomplish and the youth are a great force that has not been fully utilized. There is a lot of youth activity going on for which we should be thankful. However, I think that the focus of those activities is mostly on the youth as the beneficiary of change and not the agent of change. I think that the driving thought is “change the youth today so that tomorrow they can be the agents of change.” I also think that some of the activities are aimed at “containing” the young people, to keep them busy, or destructed so that they do not engage in undesirable behavior, while we wait for them to become of age. What if we equipped and empowered them to actually go out and be change agents instead of only being beneficiaries of change? It starts by recognizing that youth are a great missionary force, that they are change agents today and not just beneficiaries of change.
Lastly, God does not wait, and is not waiting for youth to become adults before using them to accomplish His purposes. There is a lot of both Biblical and contemporary history evidence of God working with young people to accomplish His purpose in His world. You probably know a young person or two who are changing the world around them for the better, in their families, at their school and in their communities. Apparently, the Devil seems to know that God works with and uses young people. The Devil to, knows the impact they can make and is actively recruiting them in his own force, for his own evil purposes.
We have no reason to wait. We should strategically invest in, and deploy the young people for the positive change that we so much desire. We need to listen to God and discern how He might be calling the Generation Ys to accomplish His purposes so that we can support and encourage them.
Why and how should we cease the opportunity that Gen. Ys (Youth) present? Leave a comment bellow.
alfred Edakasi
January 14, 2012 at 1:44 PM
young people are the only revolutionary minds in the world, with age people reduce thier efforts to risk yet in risk lies to great future nations are looking to cease. Alfred
Nicholas Kalyebara (@NKalyebara)
January 24, 2012 at 10:03 PM
Well said, Alfred. May we realize and cease this great opportunity that young people present.
Brenda
March 21, 2012 at 4:26 PM
Young people have great potential but most often we do not know how to transform that potential into results. I agree with you on the need to trust and empower them. We should give them challenging tasks and also seek out their views on topical issues.
Nicholas Kalyebara
March 22, 2012 at 7:30 AM
Well put, Brenda. Challenging tasks have a way of getting young people, and indeed any one, to think and to be creative. Challenges also bring out the best in us, that we never knew we had. To seek out young people’s views on topical issues is to acknowledge the fact that they to have a great contribution to make. It also says to the young person, “I respect and value you”, something that we need to be doing so often.
Dennis Wandera
August 27, 2012 at 5:13 PM
I wish every young person would understand that the TIME is now for us to rise to the occasion. All of us are created with great potential, but we seldom tap it! it comes like gifts of a new day which we only benefit from if we untie the ribbons. Majority of young people i have met seem to be still cocooned in the “self pity” mentality. Always looking at their past and holding them back from reaching out for the future. The critical ingredient is getting off our butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of us have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.
Dennis Wandera
August 27, 2012 at 6:25 PM
Each generation goes further than the generation preceding it because it stands on the shoulders of that generation. we will have opportunities beyond anything we’ve ever known. our ultimate goal therefore should be, to find a need and fill it.
Nicholas
August 29, 2012 at 4:47 PM
Dennis, you remind me of Heb 12:1 “…since we are sarounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” We can learn from both their acheivements and failures, to acomplish much more. We can brake the bad cycles, we can refuse the negative influences of the last generation.
Dennis Wandera
August 29, 2012 at 7:24 PM
Nicholas, i absolutely conquer with you. After raffling through the pages of Joel Osteen’s master piece “Your best life now” …… Seven ways to living your life at full potential, i have come to the realisation that our ultimate mandate should always be to accomplish much more than our past generation.
To that, i wake up every morning, look into the mirror, go out of my way and tell myself that, “I am determined to do and be more than what my Dad was, and that my children will one day accomplish more than me and my Dad combined”, however good one’s background can be, there are things we dont admire about them and cannot wish to carry into our own families.