Youth Pastor Sidney Mohede, Jakarta Praise Community Church

“You gotta have fun!” One of the many things which has kept youth pastor Sidney Mohede going throughout 15 years of ministry is his ability to still have fun. Taking several days away from his home and family to minister at Melbourne’s Manifest Conference, Sidney kept his Playstation Portable close by for those moments that warranted the revving of some massive engines (albeit on a video screen). And the young people love it.

But beyond Sidney’s youthful heart, he has a passionate desire to reach the young generation in Jakarta, Indonesia. He lives to see youth experience Christ and bypass the pain he felt in his teen years.

He was born in 1973 in Jakarta, but by age ten his parents had divorced and his mother took him to live in the U.S. With little money to survive on, the “City of Angels”, Los Angeles became his neighbourhood, and soon the rough streets brought the influences of drugs, sex and crime. Police officers would sometimes deliver Sidney back to his mother at 3 or 4am, and at sixteen spent time in jail.

God was calling Sidney to come and work for him.

Sidney’s concept of God came from his Catholic parents: God was there, but as an abstract figure that he didn’t know personally. At age 13, a friend invited him to church; burnt into his memory is the statement the pastor made that day: “God loves you”. The seed was planted, but the impact didn’t eventuate until a further four years later (1990) when he entered another church. During one point of the service the pastor closed his bible and pointed directly at Sidney. “God loves you and he wants you back!” Sidney broke down and cried for 2 hours until the end of the service.

He soon moved back to Jakarta and joined Jakarta Praise Community Church, helping lead an influence young people. Although he was never drawn to the title of ‘pastor’, Sidney now oversees “Oxygen” (or O₂) – the church’s youth ministry that regularly reaches 400-500 teenagers – and is in love with what he does.

Oxygen seeks to connect young people into communities both large and small, so every week the youth attend a large corporate meeting, and around two-thirds meet in a “DATE Group” – small teams that enable Discipling, Anointing, Teaching and Equipping. The groups are dispersed around the city, grouped by geographical location rather than age group.

The youth leaders meet together every two weeks to encourage each other and communicate Oxygen’s direction. Despite having both cells and corporate meetings each week, the added commitment of another night for leaders doesn’t appear to burden them. Sidney’s motto “Have Fun” flows into these sessions too and he finds that leaders look forward to them with anticipation, and they don’t struggle remembering when they’re on. His philosophy is “if it’s not fun, don’t do it”. And the leaders seem to respond – Sidney feels they really make him look good!

To Sidney, leadership isn’t about a title, but about a life that people are willing to follow. And if people aren’t, then you’re not a leader. You need to be the person you desire the young people to be – setting the standard high in passion, enthusiasm and integrity.

Leaders with needs still unmet aren’t going to have the full impact. They need to be able to lead from the overflow, and not their lack. They should be overflowing with life, not running low. We’re not supposed to be ‘lone rangers’ – by forming the right circle of people around us we’re better able to live above our issues and properly minister to others. Sidney says “show me your friends and I’ll show you your future”.

The hardest element of youth ministry for Sidney is facing the unknown – problems that haven’t happened before, particularly through young people coming with sexual and relational problems that he doesn’t always have the wisdom to handle. Sidney strives to keep learning, regardless of his age, and yet youth are treated honestly without pretending to know it all.

Sidney aims to get youth involved as much as possible, looking for the potential in every single person. If he shows passion and big dreams, people will follow. “A great church is a church full of volunteers.” In my ministry, I need to give people a sense of purpose and vision for the cause of God’s kingdom; then learn to discern potential leaders within a group and empower them to lead. But instead of giving orders from above, continue in the trenches alongside them.

Acts 2:43 forms part of the vision Sidney holds for the big youth meetings – “Many miracles and wonders were being done… and everyone was filled with awe.” He aims to make the gatherings really memorable, where kids leave thinking “that was awesome”.

Sidney’s vision extends far into the future. Rather than just working for the immediate, he wants to pace himself for the long haul – not just a 1, 2 or 3 year commitment, but looking at what the ministry will be like in 10 years (or further!) – how will church and Oxygen look, will it be healthy, what legacy is it leaving, how would it function without him? Sidney sees benefit in holding back on some of his dreams until the leaders are properly equipped and gain the vision for it. Sometimes fulfilment can take a long time, and rushing into it could prevent the dream from reaching its full potential. It’s OK if other people inherit the dream later on and bring it to completion. In my ministry, I need to pursue excellence in the short-term while not compromising anything in the long-term. I need to get a vision for what God might want to do through me and our youth ministry 10 years from now, and start taking the steps one at a time towards that goal. Rather than the ‘explosion’ mentality where everything must happen quickly, I need to gain what Sidney calls a “builder’s spirit” that places one brick at a time upon the wall of the dream God has given me.

Rather than explosive growth in numbers, Sidney wants a growth in quality – he’d rather have 100 spiritually-healthy people than 10,000 sick.

His advice to other youth leaders and ministries is to: build a deep love for teens and youth; create a reputation by setting a real example; never stop learning; don’t copy others’ programs or style – find out what God’s called you to do; keep a journal – it becomes such a treasure; learn how to pace yourself – knowing when to sprint and when to conserve energy; give both leaders and young people ownership by getting them involved and making decisions – give them a chance to show their potential; and just keep having fun!

I love Sidney’s sense of joy and excitement, plus the great value he places on everyone he interacts with – I just hope that my passion and the fruit of my ministry are as strong when I reach thirty-three. God, give us more pastors like him!