This testimony is about an incident that happened during the early years of my life in America. Today is Thursday , April 21, 2010, but my memory is flashing backwards thirty-nine years  to 1972.

Among the Indian Churches, one-third of the young people said they were dissatisfied with the current church environment. Youths think that church is not having a positive influence on them. They are discontent with the adults in the church, especially with adult failure to live up to the truths they profess to believe.

PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, credited with much of the rebuilding of America during and after the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s, when asked about his view of the next generation of young people, remarked, “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.”  Decades later, his statement still holds true.  Many young people are disillusioned with the future, and rightly so.  They face more uncertainty than anyone else about the challenges they will face in the 2000 era.  This is especially hard for Indian youth, which are in the midst of a generational transition of culture, values, faith and lifestyle.

SAM WAS JUST THREE YEARS OLD when his parents immigrated to the USA about fifteen years ago. Sam and his sister Asha, just a year younger, were raised in one of the middle-class townships of New York. Sam is a freshman in a well-known university and Asha will be graduating from high school shortly. Their parents have spent much of their time these fifteen years working their way up the social and economic ladder. Starting with almost nothing they worked long hours and made great sacrifices to have what they do today

MINISTERING TO YOUNG PEOPLE anywhere is a challenging task.  It is even more so among immigrant Indians in the United States.  Individuals who have attempted to minister to Indian Christian youth in the US will all agree that traditional youth ministry methods practiced in India will not be most effective; only a contextual understanding of their unique needs and issues and special grace of the Lord can enable an effective ministry.