Bursting with energy and faith, Phil Knox, the Evangelical Alliance's first head of mission to young adults, says he cannot wait to make more friends and disciples.
I still don’t feel like I’ve been out of the education system long enough to have escaped the feeling that, in September, something new happens. Memories of emerging from long summer holidays into an autumn term, armed with a new pencil case, bag and good intentions to make this new school year or uni semester count, are fresh in my mind at this time of year. And this term, for only the second time ever, I started a new job.
For the last 12 years of my life, I have worked at Youth for Christ, sharing the good news about Jesus with tens of thousands of young people, and in that time, I have personally seen thousands of lives changed before my eyes. It was the best job in the world. It was always going to take a huge wrench to wrestle me from it, but that wrench came: a new day is here, and this week, with immense pride, I joined the Evangelical Alliance.
I am an evangelical because I am a good news person. I am loved by the creator of the universe. I belong to a beautiful community. I have an indescribable energy, hope and life that is not my own. To borrow some words from Amazing Grace: I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.
Faith in Jesus has had such a profound effect on my life, that I cannot help share it with others. If anything good happens in my life, from nice pizzas to new pregnancies, superb TV to sporting triumphs, I am pretty effervescent about it. What God has done for me is not quite the same; it’s better.
"I am determined to serve the church to help us reach more young adults and help this generation be good news people to those around them."
I am an evangelical because the root of its meaning is ​‘good news’. In a world of negativity, I am determined to preach, whisper, text, tweet and live good news. I am an evangelical because I need firm foundations in my life.
The world in 2018 is described by some global sociologists as VUCA: volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. Most of us will experience a VUCA world on a macro scale as we are confronted by disconcerting news headlines and a micro scale as we navigate personal suffering.
I have known the joys and sorrows of life, huge highs and unspeakable pain. Knowing God thorough those times has not only given me profound comfort but an unshakeable framework to understand the world, stand with confidence to face life, and live to make a difference in the world around me.
My role at the Evangelical Alliance is head of mission to young adults. Clinging desperately to still self-identifying as a young adult, I am passionate about my own generation hearing the evangel – the good news. I love the church at her community-loving, all-embracing, world-changing, truth-speaking, global, creative best. I am determined to serve the church to help us reach more young adults and help this generation be good news people to those around them.
As I make my way through the proverbial 2018 school gates, I’d love some new friends. If you are someone who has never heard the life-changing good news of Jesus, I want to urge you to look into it. If you are a Christian, I would love you to join me on my Evangelical Alliance journey by becoming a member of this amazing movement. If you are a church leader and you would value a conversation around reaching young adults, then I would love you to get in touch.
This September, may you know a fresh start for yourself, may the greatest news of all encourage and inspire you, and may you know firm foundations as you navigate a VUCA world.
