Strategizing the Development of Young Transformed Leaders Through the Enhancement of Gifts in the Church of Pentecost U.S.A., Inc. – Norcross Central Assembly

Abstract

ABSTRACT

The Church of Pentecost U.S.A., Inc. – Norcross Central Assembly is a U.S.A. branch of the Church of Pentecost which began in Ghana. Many of the youth in the church are not well connected to the church service. They may come to church because of their parents but when they go to college and are independent, they leave the church. Some of them later come back to the church with a sense of frustration and disappointment. My interactions with them have shown that many of them do not get connected to the church because they do not know their role in the church. This study taught a group of youth in the church about spiritual gifts and their use in the church. I expected to learn about how the understanding and use of spiritual gifts can affect connectedness to church service. Eight participants of ages between 14 years and 19 years including four girls and four boys were selected. The selection was based on regular attendance at church. The project was undertaken in six weeks with five weeks of teaching sessions on spiritual gifts and one week of answering a questionnaire on spiritual gifts and discussing spiritual gifts inventory. The first and fifth sessions lasted for one hour and thirty minutes each and the other sessions lasted for one hour each. The teaching sessions included lecture-style teaching, activities, and discussions. Participants also answered the questionnaire and interview questions to identify their gifts. This was a way to authenticate the results obtained. Participants had very low knowledge or no knowledge about spiritual gifts before the project but after the project, all participants indicated that they have increased knowledge about spiritual gifts. All participants could identify at least one gift they possess and indicated that it is more likely to stay connected to the church by the use of their identified spiritual gifts. Several suggestions have been given about how to apply the findings from the project both in the church and beyond to help the youth stay connected to the church service. Other areas of further research have also been suggested.