Who holds the future?

As Josiah Venture works with local churches to help them reach the next generation, one very effective tool we offer is a program called Fusion. Teenagers love music and the arts, yet schools in our region don’t generally offer choir, drama, band, or other programs you may have participated in when you were young. This creates an opportunity for the church to gather unbelieving young people together into a Fusion community, which is a contemporary rock/gospel choir.

In the context of weekly meetings, teens are shepherded toward faith in God, but we also found that large gatherings can strengthen the local outreach. So last month, 20 Fusion choirs from 10 countries joined for a unique festival called Fusiondary, where the choirs perform for each other, grow in their skills, and are challenged with the gospel. Out of the 500 participants, at least half were unbelievers.

Several months before the festival, students filled out a survey about their needs and interests. Normally, classic teen issues like relationships and identity come to the top, but this time, the number one concern was the future. Surrounded by uncertainty, this “anxious generation” is fearful as they look ahead. In response to this, our team chose the theme— “Dare.” “Dare to take a step of faith and trust in Jesus.” “Dare to believe there is a God who holds the future.”

One of our newest Fusions is in the city of Lviv, Ukraine, a country still in the grip of relentless war with neighboring Russia. For many of the students, traveling to the Czech Republic for Fusiondary was their first time out of the war-torn country. Yura, a 16-year-old, joined Fusion because of his love for music, and became their key drummer. Although he had heard the gospel many times, he was hesitant to give his life to Christ.

On Saturday evening, Jenny used an unusual passage for her talk—the story of the nation of Israel dying from poison and needing to look to a snake on a stick to be healed. “Jesus was lifted up in the same way,” Jenny shared, “and we need to ‘dare’ to look to him in faith for healing that we can find nowhere else.”

After the message, Timothy, one of the Ukrainian leaders, found Yuri and asked if he wanted to talk. “Why don’t we come to Jesus right now?” he said. “You know he is real, and then you can have a life with God.” Yuri shared that he wanted to wait, but then said, “What if I don’t live until the next camp? Life is not forever. You don’t know what life brings, and you don’t know when your life ends.”

That night, Yuri “dared” to put his trust in Jesus. The next Sunday, he was giving testimony to his faith at his local church in Lviv. Many others made the same step of faith and discovered that, “Even if everyone leaves me, God loves me like I am and will never leave.”

Thank you for “daring” with us to give this next generation hope for the future.

Dave Patty
President, Josiah Venture