Dare 2 Share founder and President Greg Stier is calling on churches around the world to mobilize a generation of teenagers to boldly share their faith as part of the upcoming Day of Global Youth Evangelism.
During an on-location interview with ChurchLeaders, Stier gave a behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the Nov. 14 event, which seeks to train and mobilize more than 1 million teenagers to share the gospel in more than 100 countries.
Stier spoke with ChurchLeaders from a television studio in Denver, where Dare 2 Share had brought together ministry leaders from around the world to record training for the event.
“We’ve flown in speakers from all around the world. We have an English speaking team. We have a Spanish speaking team. It’s going to be translated into Portuguese and French and Arabic and it’s going to be in Hindi and it’s going to be shown all over the world on November 14th. It’s a day of global youth evangelism,” Stier said.
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Last year, Stier said, 298,000 teenagers from 87 countries were trained, equipped and mobilized. This year, Dare 2 Share is praying for participation to surpass 1 million teenagers.
One of the most significant areas of participation last year came from Nigeria.
“The most persecuted nation in the world was number one. They had thousands of teens out hitting the streets sharing the gospel. Just bold Nigerian faith,” Stier said.
Greg Stier: ‘If You Want To Participate You Got To Go Out and Share the Gospel’
During the interview, Stier introduced ChurchLeaders to several members of the international team helping prepare the training, including ministry leaders from South Africa, Brazil, and Australia, as well as a teenage evangelist.
The Day of Global Youth Evangelism program includes two hours of content. One hour focused on inspiration and another on training. Afterward, participating teenagers are expected to put that training into practice by going out in public and sharing their faith.
“It’s free. But the day of global youth evangelism if you want to participate you got to go out and share the gospel,” Stier said.
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEcrrxsh9Wc&feature=youtu.be-
Callum Thomas, who serves with Cape Ray Torchbearers and TeenStreet in Australia, said the emphasis on actually practicing evangelism is what makes the initiative unique.
“The training is legitimate, the motivation is real, but the activation is true and it’s just amazing to see teenagers from across different continents and cultures all do it. And they do it together. It’s not like we [just] talk about it, it’s actually teens doing it which is why I keep coming back,” Thomas said.
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Stier said that emphasis extends beyond one evangelistic event.
“It’s not about Dare 2 Share it’s about the gospel advancing movement that started 2,000 years ago with Jesus,” he said.
Young Christians Around the World Are Eager To Share Their Faith
The ministry leaders also told ChurchLeaders they are seeing encouraging signs among young Christians around the world.
Marcel Franco, who works with Loving Life in Santa Cruz, California, said he has seen young people who are not merely professing faith but are eager to tell others about Jesus.
“I think one of the biggest lies I’ve been trying to fight is the lie that less and less people are believing Jesus and less and less young people are coming to Christ,” Franco said. “What we’ve seen in the Bay Area is that more and more students are surrendering their lives to Jesus. And not only they’re saying yes to Jesus casually, they’re passionate about it.”
Thomas said he is seeing a similar commitment among teenagers in Australia.
“What we are seeing is the teenagers that are there are involved are far more committed and engaged than than in previous generations,” he said. “Radical commitments of discipleship, hunger to reach the lost, actually wanting to change the world, and participating in it. And so they’re much more practitioners than consumers than we’ve seen in the past.”
Sebastian, a youth pastor from Johannesburg, South Africa, said teenagers there are also returning to church, putting their faith in Jesus, and wanting their friends to know Christ.
“We’re seeing teenagers come back to the church. We’re seeing them give their lives to Christ, put their faith in Jesus, and then actually want to see their friends come to know Him too,” he said.
Fear Remains a Major Obstacle to Evangelism
Despite the signs of what some have hinted to as a possible revival, the group acknowledged that fear continues to keep many Christians from sharing their faith.
One teenage participant said the possibility of damaging a friendship can make evangelism particularly difficult.
“I think there’s like a lot of reasons. For me personally, it’s like I struggle with my fear of losing a relationship, especially with friends,” she said. “And I feel like that’s why it makes it so much harder to share with friends because there’s so much more on the line.”
Thomas compared learning to evangelize to strengthening a muscle at the gym.
“We just need to get our reps up because there’s this attitude of like, oh yeah, when I go to the gym, I’m going to be able to lift that perfect weight magically out of nowhere,” he said. “Reality is that the skill isn’t developed like that. We we have to get our reps up.”
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He encouraged Christians to make evangelism a regular part of their lives rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity.
“Don’t think, ‘Oh yeah, one day when I get that magic conversation, I’m going to be able to nail it.’ It’s like, ‘No, no, no. We build up for it,'” Thomas said.
Stier said the people involved in producing the global training aren’t simply teaching evangelism—they practice it.
“They all live this out. They’re all sharing their faith. Our goal with this is we want to lead the movement. We got to be the movement,” he said.
Greg Stier: ‘We Fear God, Not Death’
Near the conclusion of the interview, Stier pointed to Nigerian Christians as an example of the type of courage he hopes young believers around the world will embrace.
Stier said he spoke with Steven Baho, a leader in the gospel advancing movement in Nigeria, about the dangers Christians face while sharing their faith.
“I asked him, I go, ‘Aren’t you afraid?’ You know what he told me? You choose what you fear,” Stier recalled. “We’re not afraid of dying. We fear God, not death.”
Stier said that courage should challenge Christians far beyond Nigeria.
“And that’s the Nigerian spirit of boldness, the Holy Spirit boldness that all of us need. We need it in America, needed in Argentina, needed in every country, everywhere,” he said. “And we need that kind of grit.”
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Stier specifically challenged pastors and youth leaders to participate rather than merely encouraging their students from the sidelines.
“So, I want to encourage youth leaders and pastors, make a determination. You’re going to participate in the day of global youth evangelism, and you’re going to kick off not just one day, but a lifestyle of active evangelism, unashamed of our faith,” Stier said.
Dare 2 Share is providing the training materials free of charge. Churches that participate agree to train their teenagers and then take them out to share the gospel on Nov. 14.
Stier said more than 70 countries had already signed up at the time of the interview.
Just imagine a million teenagers on November 14th getting trained,” he said.
Stier’s hope is that the event will become more than a single day of evangelism and instead help develop a generation of Christians who view sharing the gospel as part of their everyday lives.
“We’ll provide the tools free of charge, everything you need, and your students will be mobilized with and for the gospel with Nigeria and countries like that leading the way for the glory of God,” Stier said.