• FEATURE: Though it is a small congregation, Mililani community Church develops and sends several short-term youth teams each summer (see below).
• TOOL PACKAGE: Mililani Community Church shares lessons they have learned over the years of sending youth teams.
• GREAT IDEAS: Discover the key elements that Mililani Community Church builds into their youth program in order to develop their youth for missions.

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How can a small church produce a whole series of quality short-term youth teams in one summer? Mililani Community Church in Mililani, Hawaii is a congregation of 130; about 30 of them are teenagers. The church meets in an elementary school cafeteria and does not have their own building, but they are producing multiple teams of well-trained youth to do effective ministry in many different settings!

During 2006 their youth teams:

• did summer missions with Child Evangelism Fellowship
• taught Vacation Bible School (VBS) in a Ka'ala Elementary (public) School in Wahiawa (a city on the same island) during spring break
• taught VBS in Mililani
• ministered at the Youth Challenge at Purdue University
• helped to set up a Christian day school in Honduras
• taught VBS in a ministry to the Navajo Nation in Arizona
• taught VBS in a church in Fukuoka, Japan

All of this is part of an organized, consistent plan of training, providing opportunities for experience, building on lessons learned, and preparing youth for next steps in ministry and leadership.

The youth at Mililani Community Church are under the supervision of Steve Knapp, Director of Christian Education and Youth. He has vision and zeal for building a foundation for youth to develop passion and skills to reach the world, starting in their Jerusalem, then on to Judea, Samaria and the remote parts of the earth! And since 2000 he has been launching them into effective ministry as they learn.

Training: A Key
Very intentional and organized about training, Steve begins to work with his flock during their middle school years. He says, "It takes time to grow an oak." Students learn to memorize and meditate on scripture. Since 2000 all youth have been encouraged to commit to one season as summer missionaries with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF). CEF provides two intensive weeks of training, when students do concentrated Bible study and learn ministry skills: how to lead someone to Christ, teach Bible lessons and take leadership in children's 5-Day Clubs. For the rest of the summer, they teach and work with children, applying what they have learned. Following this experience, Steve says the students are "never the same--and the whole church benefits!"

Jerusalem First
Following the summer missionary experience, Steve creatively builds on this training and growth, leading to more challenge and maturity. Since 2001, students have led at least two Vacation Bible Schools every summer: one in a public school for immigrant Micronesian children, and one in partnership with another local church. They have done beach and park evangelism. One young man accepted Christ through a "learning to share the gospel" training event--and now he wants to be a pastor/missionary himself! Another student did an "evangelistic birthday party" for his 16th birthday, and three of his four non-Christian friends prayed to receive Christ!

Judea and Samaria
Following experience in their Jerusalem, Steve has provided opportunities for the promising young folks to look beyond to their Judea. Every year since 2001, they have done projects on neighboring islands of Hawaii.

In 2002, their first Samaria experience was in Brooklyn, New York. It was like nothing they had ever experienced before. Everything was extremely challenging, and they were faced with discouragement... but God intervened, and they grew through difficult experiences. A young person from a neighboring church in Hawaii had accompanied the team; he went back to his youth group and ignited a fire--and the next year they did a mission trip themselves! The local Brooklyn youth group learned from the experiences and did their own very first outreach ministry as a result.

The Uttermost Parts of the Earth
2003 was the first year to focus on a remote part of the world... as a team of youth and adult leaders ministered in St. Petersburg, Russia under the auspices of a mission in Hawaii. The team performed sacred sign, hula dances, short dramas and skits at youth camps and on the street, then did street evangelism and visited orphanages to bring gifts and cheer.

In 2006 for the first time, the church sent a team to Honduras, another to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, and a third to Japan. Missionary Lorna Gilbert in Japan says, "The kids on the Hawaii team were GREAT.... They were VERY helpful, kind, flexible, teachable kids." But these students were not "green recruits"--they had had many years of experience in ministry before they went to Japan.

These cross-cultural mission trips are not the beginning, and they are not the end. Speaking of the Japan trip, Senior Pastor Dr. Rick Bartosik says it is just one step in a long line of ministry opportunities. The church will continue to build on what they have learned and will channel their young people into further opportunities for ministry and growth in the future.

The youth have matured as they have been equipped through training and sharpened through dealing with realities in ministry. Steve Knapp says, "The original team of kids could plant a church! They have been exposed to so many aspects of the ministry--spiritual warfare, teaching, preaching, evangelism, worship, and fellowship are just some of the things they know and can do."

Mililani Community Church works hard at growing their own missionaries and church leaders... and their foresight in planning, teaching, and guiding their youth is reaping rich rewards!

To learn more about the Mililani Community Church and their youth training and ministry focus, contact Steve Knapp at (808) 625-6205.

Mililani Community Church has graciously shared with us some lessons they have learned as they have developed and sent youth teams over the last seven years. To take advantage of their experience, download these lessons free at Tool Package.

Great Ideas includes key components that are woven into the planning and agenda of their entire youth program at Mililani Community Church, helping them to develop youth with the gifts and heart for missions. Download these free at Great Ideas.