Young people want to know they are doing something heroic for the sake of the Kingdom of God. They need to make great sacrifices, stretch themselves. It's not enough to play basketball and be entertained. They want to change the world."

That's my recollection of some insights offered by Tony Campolo at a lecture I heard him give at least 15 years ago. But unlike the vast majority of the millions of words I have heard and read since then, those words stuck. And they stuck because I thought Campolo, a noted Christian author, preacher and speaker, was right at the time and I've seen it to be true in the years since. For the young, being a Christian and living a Christian life is a daring choice of an alternative lifestyle that often proves to be profoundly at odds with the surrounding culture. It's the point Colin MacDonald sees Erwin McManus making in his book, Soul Cravings. It's the point Andrew Hyde makes in his thoughtful piece on youth and leadership.

And you don't have to be young to yearn to do something significant, for the love of God. And you don't have to travel far from home to find opportunities to give of yourself and make a difference. And you don't have to be part of a movement or an event that would be important enough to make the six o'clock news. The kingdom comes on bended knee and it comes in many, many small acts of generosity, words of kindness, deeds of faithfulness.

At our congregation's Vacation Bible School, there were teenagers who had hauled themselves out of bed in order to lead games or teach a Bible story to younger children. Adults were giving precious vacation days to sharing the gospel. Loving grandmas were preparing snacks and drinks and putting up with a level of noise, chaos and mess that they had every right to be considered retired from. Lots of people who put themselves out, and made an effort and gave of themselves. And that is how the kingdom comes. That is how the world is changed.

St Paul was a hero for the gospel. He traveled extensively, enduring beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonments, derision, abandonment and betrayal. His mission was unparalleled in its effect. He changed the world. I went on a mission trip this summer, but I'm no Paul. As a Canadian, a product of an affluent and pampered society, I am accustomed to being well fed, my environment always climate controlled, my bodily comfort and safety a birthright. I am seldom required to put myself out, make an effort, give of myself at cost. All these things are anathema to the consumer culture that cossets us, coddles us and convinces us that we, and all our desires, are the centre of the universe.

Going to Africa, I brought a small pharmacy with me, I fretted over being warm enough, the water being safe enough, I worried about all eleven of us sleeping in one room, and how we would fare with the strange diet. In actuality, the worst I endured was a case of elephant ankles when I swelled up on the plane rides.

May you be blessed with an opportunity to stretch yourself, take up your cross and deny yourself, something, for the sake of the kingdom. May this issue of Fellowship Magazine bless you and encourage you in your discipleship.