Leadership and Youth Development

Gebru Abraha - Ethiopia

Gebru Abraha is an alumni of United Graduate College and Seminary International. He is a UGCS Regional Representative in Ethiopia and is currently working on his Doctorate with United Graduate College and Seminar.

The fact that I have been under different leaders has made me fortunate enough to study many leadership styles. In the way along, I observed a few leaders that were exceptional, while others fell flat. The exceptional leaders were capable of leading their followers to their esteemed vision. Thus the title leadership alone is not sufficient in the essence of societal transformation. That is why it is said that leadership is more than having the title leader. There are several aspects that make up a good Christian leader. A good leader is first a servant, a good leader is one who loves his followers, and a good leader is capable as well as credible.

Good Leadership is important because it provides an inspirational figure to lead groups or people towards great accomplishments. Leadership can provide a foundation for ideas to show that anything is possible, to make the invisible visible. Leadership plays an important role in the development of youth. Since youth are the future of a society, societal success depends on what their future actions are going to be. Nelson Mandela the freedom fighter and the former President of South Africa once said ‘‘the youths of a country are the valued possessions of a nation. Without them there can be no future’’. Indeed the future development of a nation depends on how well the youth are cultivated. When the youth of a society or a nation have not been given due attention, the nation goes down, or the society perishes.

In developing countries, the majority of their population is youth. Nearly 40 percent of their population is between the ages 15-30. Young people in such societies are now growing under circumstances unfamiliar to previous generations. They experience powerful socio-ecological impact due to globalization. The world has now become closely connected. Though the youth have more freedom now, this comes with responsibilities. These responsibilities appear right in the early ages of the youth before they are able to carry on the responsibilities. Family relationship is being reduced to only a few members. Societies that were characterized by extended families are now breaking down into only two or three members in a family. Money is misguiding many people.

Leadership in such societies has double responsibility and must give proper attention to youth development. The leadership must design a system to support social, economic and environmental livelihoods of the youth. Not only appointed leaders but also community elders should shoulder the responsibility.

Since the needs of the youth are immense and urgent we must protect them from developing bad addictions. We should find ways to decrease destructive behavior in the youth’s life and increase their positive behavior. Youth should be taught about how to get good defense against certain behavior initiated diseases such as HIV or other diseases related to smoking, drinking, and unhealthy eating and drug addiction. We must transform the desires of the body to the desires of the soul. A big barrier for personality growth of the youth can be the overflow of emotions and rush of blood associated with their age. Despite this fact we must help them to learn how their emotions can be used positively and how they can make a difference in the society they live in. They should learn to conceive a purposeful life that not only fulfils their needs but also has impact on others and even those they may have to teach later in their life. In this regard the leadership and senior community members must show their Christian brotherhood to the youth, for the Lord says, “So we who are many are one body in Christ and individually member’s one of another.” Romans 12:5

Youth Development by its very nature requires personality and character building. The healthy individuals have better capability of grasping and adopting positive attitudes. Improved health habits and improved health risk management skills can therefore be obtained through physical development.

To help young people better adapt to their environment, enhancement of their intellectual ability is crucial. They should be helped in recognizing their own spiritual gifts and strengths and how they can benefit through them. As the Holy Bible says, “In everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and knowledge.” Corinthians 1:5

In developing their positive attitude, the youth should learn also about how to practice sympathy, humility and respect and how they can be beneficial to society as a whole. They must be helped to understand the importance of planning for the future and future life event, spirituality or a sense of a “larger” purpose in life, interconnectedness and interdependence and strong moral character.

To conclude, since our life in this world is limited we must live our limited life without regret and for this we have intellectual capacity and wisdom. We must be able to lead people in bad situations to a better one. Only if we follow God’s path we can live our life without regret.

Proverbs 9:10 says, ‘‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” hence a good Christian leader who fears God will have all his paths paved and will successfully develop the youth of his nation to be useful citizens. This is how a leader is ultimately evaluated.

By Gebru Abraha - Ethiopia

“Neither height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39