Dare 2 Share

By Dare 2 Share Staff | Wed, 13 Aug 2008

About Dare 2 Share

The Mission:

Energizing and equipping teenagers to know, live, share and own their faith in Jesus!

The Need:

Did you know 2 out of 3 Christian teens will, according to George Barna, participate in a "graduation evacuation" from the body of Christ once they graduate high school?

The problem of teenagers fleeing the church upon graduation has spiraled into a crisis.

Dare 2 Share is convinced that the answer to this crisis in Christianity lies in an aggressive initiative to transform youth ministry from reactive and entertainment-based to Great Commission-driven and Scripture-based. From studying the Biblical book of Acts, as well as the explosive growth of the Mormon religion, which has grown primarily through an army of 60,000+ student missionaries, Dare 2 Share has crafted a powerful strategy that could turn the tide of youth ministry in America and capture the hearts of a large percentage of the millennial generation.

Mormons generally do not see a lot of fall out among their youth after graduation. While there are a variety of reasons for this, one of the most obvious is that Mormon teens' entire adolescence is focused on preparing for a two-year mission after high school. In addition, their minds and souls are immersed with Mormon theology five days a week through "seminary" classes every day of the school year. The mission gives them something to do and the seminary gives them something to believe.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of events and curriculum for Christian teens centers around "felt needs" and how God's Word meets those needs. According to Mark Senter III in The Coming Revolution in Youth Ministry ,

"There is no way in which the tactics currently being used will stem the tidal wave of spiritual, moral, and psychosocial problems faced by the current and coming generations of adolescents."

Youth ministry needs to become increasingly purposeful and call students to something more.

Dare 2 Share's Answer:

We at Dare 2 Share Ministries are fully convinced that the answer lies in raising the bar spiritually for teenagers, calling them to make a difference by taking Jesus Christ and the Great Commission seriously.

The result? According to Philemon 6 when we are actively sharing our faith, we know by personal experience every good thing we have in Christ Jesus. In other words, when students begin to share their faith they begin to own their faith, instead of borrowing it from their parents and their pastors.

The driving concept behind this movement is a calling, much like the calling Jesus gave to his disciples...a dare to share.

Teens who accept the call at our events are committed to transforming their youth ministries through an aggressive and relational evangelistic thrust. These core teens become the initiators of an invitational strategy of evangelism. These students pray for their unreached friends, pursue their friends on a deeper spiritual level by bringing up God conversations with them, and persuade their friends to attend youth group consistently, believe in Jesus, connect to a tribe/clique, develop spiritually and evangelize others. We call this Deep and Wide Youth Ministry.

We are on the verge of the first ever 100,000,000 member generation.

Within the culture of this generation there is some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that the adolescent crime rate, the student suicide rate and the teen pregnancy rate are dangerously high. The news gets even worse when one realizes the response of the adult community to these disturbing statistics has been centered on educational programs, school dress codes, stricter law enforcement, and longer prison sentences for adolescent violators. While these courses of action can help slow the current of dysfunction and destruction, they cannot stem the tide. In the words of Thoreau, "For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, one is hacking at the root." Only Jesus Christ can change the heart. The gospel of Jesus Christ, not the government of the United States, holds the keys of hope for today's teenagers.

But before the news gets better, it gets worse still.

The church, by and large, has failed to capture the hearts, minds, and imaginations of this generation of students. Instead, the typical youth group focuses on entertainment more than evangelism, programs to please parents rather than the passion to serve God, and baby food curriculum rather than the meaty truth of God's Word. As a result, many Christian students have no visible and viable lifestyle difference when compared to their unsaved counterparts. The salt has lost its bite.

There is some good news, though.

First of all, the attitude of the next generation of teenagers is profoundly different from the typical teen of the 1990's. Instead of pessimism, there is a renewed sense of optimism. Instead of an "it's all about me" attitude, there is a growing communal sense of duty, responsibility, and, yes, even heroism. According to the book, Millennials Rising , they are a "throwback to the now departing GI generation." Many sociologists expect this next generation to be world changers.

The news gets better yet.

There is no better mission to motivate these world changers than the Great Commission and no better message to transform them than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The church is at a historic opportunity to capture the hearts, harness the energy, and focus the collective power of an army of Christian students toward reaching an unchurched generation with a message that is powerful, practical, and true.

This is the powerful paradigm for change at Dare 2 Share Ministries - to introduce this potent generation to Jesus Christ and unleash them to spread the message to others.

Dare 2 Share conferences are held each school year in key metropolitan cities across the United States that motivate and train students to reach out to those around them by living and giving the life-changing message of the gospel in a contagious epidemic of love and truth.

"Hey, I have been going to D2S for the past 4 or 5 years. I was involved in the e-team [at our church]... This year I have gone to college. It is my first year at college and my first time leaving home. Even though I am only 5 hours away, it seems like 500 hours away... The only thing that has helped me to be strong is my family, my church back home, my new church with Christian challenges, and the information I have gotten from D2S conferences. I have used the information for talking to my roommate. Even though she is a Christian, I have been able to give her advice. I have also used it to be a strong person on campus. This will be the first time in 5 years that I won't be able to go to the Dare 2 Share conference in Denver. I want to thank the D2S people for doing what they do. You have made an impact on my life and thousands of kids across the country. I will continue praying for you guys. Thank you again!" ~ Ashley

An email message from a student who was an e-team member at her church in the Denver, Colorado area.