East City Youth Fellowship in Shangrao, Jiangxi, stands out from other youth fellowships due to its unique structure. Unlike most fellowships affiliated with a single church, it is a collaborative effort among multiple churches to nurture young people together. This innovative and localized approach is specifically designed to meet the realities of the local community.
Brother Wu serves as the leader and co-founder of the fellowship. Ya and De, two millennials, are responsible for preaching and pastoral care within the fellowship. They graduated, respectively, from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary and East China Theological Seminary. Maomao leads the worship team, overseeing practical aspects of their operations, while two Gen Z members serve as the drummer and guitarist.
Located at intersections of town and country, these churches boast modest memberships, with some having only two or three dozen and the largest a hundred. Coupled with a significant aging population, it is challenging for a single church to establish a youth fellowship. Hence, Brother Wu and Brother Zheng conceived the idea of forming a joint youth fellowship among these churches to nurture them.
“We have found our development path amidst challenges,” said Brother Zheng, one of the founders. Although he later left Shangrao due to circumstances, he remains invested in the fellowship and has introduced this approach to other places. “The approach is more grounded and suitable for the current development model of churches in villages, towns, and urban-rural fringes.” He hopes this model can serve as a reference for rural churches seeking to develop youth ministry, highlighting its importance and showing how to “utilize limited resources to find one’s way forward.”
On January 25, 2019, with the support of neighboring churches, the East City Youth Fellowship was officially established. Its fellowship workers primarily come from the surrounding churches and are also key workers within their respective churches. Most serve in the fellowship and their home churches, sharing a common burden to preach to and nurture young people in the hope of seeing their churches rejuvenated with a rising generation of young believers. The worship team is a cornerstone of the youth fellowship and a primary format for youth activities. Most team members are second-generation believers or even second-generation pastors, with many of their parents also serving as workers or leaders in their respective churches.
While they grew up immersed in faith, they initially shied away from churches. Ning, a Gen Z member, commented that churches did not feel like a place for them. “As soon as you enter there, you can smell the scent of old people,” so she would head straight to the second floor when she had to visit there. Ling shared that her mother encouraged her to attend church, but the sermons were in dialects, making it difficult for her to follow. It felt like doing mental translation rather than genuinely and directly absorbing the message of teaching.
However, when the East City Youth Fellowship was established, providing a space and platform tailored to young people’s needs, they eagerly joined and said, “I developed an interest in musical instruments at a church camp and later learned from teachers there. So when the church needed help, serving became naturally a part of me.” Others shared, “I attended gatherings at other churches before, but something seemed to be missing. Later, I realized it was the lack of relationships. Here, I can build connections with others.”
As young people continued to join, the fellowship grew from an initial dozen members to over seventy, with around fifty regularly attending gatherings.
The fellowship’s core workers consist of two generations: generation X and millennials, who initially formed the first-tier team. However, as the millennial and Gen Z members matured, the older generations gracefully stepped back to the second tier, entrusting the frontlines to the younger generation to better serve the youth, working alongside each other to minister to contemporary young people.
Adhering to local church traditions, the youth fellowship primarily meets on Saturday evenings. Gatherings typically commence with worship led by the worship team, followed by a sermon.
Ya is a primary force in nurturing the youth fellowship. She preaches at another church. After graduating from Nanjing Union Theological Seminary a year and a half ago, she could not shake off her burden for her hometown church and returned to the relatively “less developed” church, despite high offers from coastal churches. Upon joining the youth fellowship, she initiated Bible study groups for fellowship members.
As the leader of the worship team, Maomao also faces significant pressure. Through various formats, they lead young people in music theory, worship, movie nights, and other activities.
Worship serves as a crucial means for their activities to touch and serve local believers. On June 12, leveraging the venue of another church, the fellowship independently hosted its first concert, attracting a large crowd. Despite forecasts of heavy rain for several days leading up to the event, the workers prayed together, hoping for clear skies. Miraculously, the rain stopped that afternoon, and a double rainbow appeared in the sky, which everyone deemed a special grace and gift from God. The concert was a testimony to the living and true presence of Jesus Christ.
Brother Wu, the fellowship’s leader, is also a key worker at a nearby church. During the last leadership election in his church, he was considered for a leadership position but declined, citing his primary focus on the youth fellowship and insufficient time for additional responsibilities. Instead, he recommended that another brother take on the role. He also runs an auto repair shop, which offers him relatively flexible hours to participate in ministry work. He is grateful for this arrangement and the Lord’s protection over his business, enabling it to remain profitable even during the pandemic when many shops struggled.
In addition to these key workers, the fellowship has other co-workers who preach at their respective churches while contributing to the fellowship’s efforts. Sister Lan, for instance, enjoys transcribing sermon notes into written form and sharing them in the fellowship group for those unable to attend, while also keeping minutes of fellowship meetings.
Beyond regular worship gatherings and Bible study groups, the fellowship organizes an annual summer youth camp and frequently collaborates with nearby churches to host concerts, prayer meetings, and other events that breathe new life into the churches. The fellowship’s workers care not only for the youth but also for the church’s elders, supporting theological students and families of struggling believers. They also engage in social services, organizing volunteer services at local nursing homes before the pandemic.
“Our vision is to establish East City Youth Fellowship as a nurturing ground, training workers to serve and impact surrounding churches,” explained Brother Zheng.
Since its establishment, the fellowship has entered its sixth year. At the beginning of this year, they just held an election, and Brother Wu continued to serve as the leader.
Meanwhile, the fellowship is also facing many challenges. Firstly, there is no stable meeting place. Currently, they borrow from other churches, so after each gathering, they need to put away musical instruments. If there were a regular meeting place for the fellowship, people who are weak could go there to pray and receive more detailed pastoral care, which is currently impossible. In addition, the fellowship lacks regular full-time pastors. Currently, both pastors are part-time and belong to their respective churches, which diverts their attention from many other ministries.
Furthermore, the fellowship lacks co-workers. Compared to middle-aged and elderly people, young people are volatile. The nature of job opportunities for young people locally is very limited, so most of them are busy with their livelihoods and have many changes, making it difficult to find time to gather during the day. Therefore, the fellowship’s Bible study, band rehearsals, and other gatherings are all arranged in the evening. Co-workers also need to respond to various sudden changes at any time. For instance, on the day of the gathering, if a scheduled receptionist suddenly says they cannot come, adjustments need to be made temporarily.
In the process of pastoral care, they have also found that building relationships is important for young people. Some people participate in ministries because their friends are serving. They are also planning birthday parties to celebrate the birthdays of those born in the first half of the year, strengthening the bond within the fellowship. Many people forget their birthdays but are notified to come to the fellowship to celebrate. The moment they receive their birthday gifts, they feel valued.
“Without the existence of this fellowship, perhaps we young people would also be marginalized, and it would be even harder for the next generation of young people to be inspired.”
As a founder and witness of the fellowship, Brother Zheng reminds churches of this era, and more importantly, those in rural and urban-rural fringe areas, to seize the opportunity. “In the blink of an eye, you waste five or ten years, and the church misses out on the growth of a generation of believers and the succession of a generation of believers. However, if we seize this opportunity, we may not see results in one or two months, or one or two years, but we will reap the harvest in five or ten years, and if we look further ahead, it will have a deeper impact.”
- Translated by Charlie Li
