“Tell me, so I may hear;
Show me, so I may see and listen;
Teach me, so I may learn;
Involve me, so I may understand.”

These words bring me back to my familiar classroom during my senior year in high school. I remember just staring into that poster and jotting it down for the nth time on the memo pad I kept in my head, every time my usually puffy eyes crave for a siesta in the midst of our class discussion, if not teacher’s oration.

It wasn’t just about the time of the day but more on the presentation that bored me, as sermonettes and main messages during Sabbath services seemed to me. I could always recall someone preaching in front, while my mind drifted far away on the outside world. The only thing that kept me sitting still and taking occasional glances to the speaker, as if I were listening, was the blood of politeness I’ve acquired from my roots. These didn’t pass into my sisters’ eyes so they had me bring a Bible, hoping it would help shift my steering wheel of attention. It offered a little help, as I’ve found myself flipping the Bible just so I could give an impression to my observant “seatmate” that I was also buried on the Book.

I had very little, if none at all, involvement in the Church. It wasn’t until my family gave a go-ahead to send me to the United Youth Camp that when I got back, I had a fresh, eager start.

In my own viewpoint, being in the Church is like being in an organization in school (minus the cons, of course). Youths, even in the yester years, are drawn into it like moths because it gives them the feeling that they belong. I personally believe that having the youths in every congregation a role to play in would consciously and subconsciously give them the feeling of acceptance and importance and a sense of belongingness. The role could be the arranging of flowers, the distribution of hymnals, the music operator, whatever they could be of help. Assigning them to a particular task would at the same time teach them responsibility. Little tasks they may seem, but these would lead doors in making sense their existence on the Body of which Jesus is the Head.

Youths like to have fun. We shouldn’t keep that out from our minds. Why don’t we let them have fun in God’s place? Let us break and prove the myth wrong that the last place the young people would enjoy is the Church. Organizing an interactive Bible study is just one of the many ways. The key here is to make it interactive. Young minds ask a lot of questions and they long to be heard and to speak their minds. Why not welcome them? Making them talk and participate would give them a sense of well-being, a sense of self-worth. What could be more fun than that?

Also, it is important for them to socialize (I prefer to call it interact), and meet people their age. It is overwhelming to see the youths of God gathered in one place, doing things together, enjoying everyone’s company. Youths in a congregation should spend some time to create a special bond called friendship. Having a strong network of friends would bring another zest. Hanging out with people who share the same faith as yours would mold you into a better, more spiritual person. Mind you, they can be a major influence. When I went to the UYC, I was more than astonished to find rare persons there who were a year or two my junior, but knew the Bible a lot better than I and had a stronger faith and closer relationship to the Lord. I became ashamed of myself and started evaluating my “existence” and committed into a vow to start all over when I’ve come to realize that I never really existed in the Church.

I’m into a stand that the family holds an essential power to gear up a youth’s participation. When my family started to involve me in tithing, I first freaked out. I rumbled out reasons (in my own exaggerate terms) of unemployment and the meager allowance which made me financially handicapped. With the continuous complaints I was narrating, I ended up opening certain pages in the Bible. It didn’t only tell me why, it told me more. Little later did I just proceed delving the Feasts deeper and started joining with the members of our congregation the seven step-by-step Feasts and not just the Feast of Tabernacles.

As a youth speaking, I say that in our stage, we tend to stick to a certain thing, be it a person, an activity, or a place that gives us a safe, homely feeling; wholesome enjoyment; acknowledges and recognizes the importance of our presence; and shapes our character in a positive way.

But the bottom line here is: they don’t have to wait for these things to happen to them before taking the Church seriously and before they start digging deeper enthusiastically. This is where I’ve found myself of service—showing to my fellow youths that it is the other way around. This brings home to me that I am a member of the Body of Christ, as I continue to be a shining example to my fellow young adults. I’m doing a small part and I’m not about to change things today, yet I’ve learned that zeal is contagious and rubs-off to others.

PARTICIPATION AND INVOLVEMENT, I strongly stand, are the keys to heat up the engines of the youth to drive into the road leading to His promised eternal life. It is only when we, young adults, start taking part in the Church that we see colors in our spiritual journey. To have that deeper zeal and a sense of urgency, we should first understand what we are doing and why we are to do it, and that can only be done by involving ourselves in the work. It is because when we involve ourselves in proclaiming the good news of God, we less focus on ourselves and instead, on how to make the work grow, thus, bringing out excitement and a sense of urgency. I’m speaking from experience—they worked for me and would surely work for others as well. The keys I have, you could have them, too, because they are in you. It does more sense if you wouldn’t wait for somebody else to ask for you. You should go out of your way and find out where you can serve and see for yourself how so important your part is, in spreading God’s word.

See it this way: the Church is like an already-running big car and everyone in the Church are in it. As future drivers, we should be in the passenger’s seat, watching for ourselves how the current drivers steady the wheels to be able to reach God’s Kingdom. If we are just seated uninvolved in the back seat, who then?