“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their resting place. All that found them have devoured them…” Jer 50: 6 – 7 (KJV)

This staggering situation, the fear of many today for the generations to come, happens when there is a break in continuity in good leadership as happened in Judg 2: 7; 10 -11. The African Youth in the 21^st century are a special resource and a foremost social capital that requires priority investment and special attention. Thus, the urgency in the need for capacity building of the youth for service as good Leaders cannot be overemphasized.

Leadership is the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a particular goal while empowerment, is passing the baton to the next generation and endowing someone with capabilities for the successful completion of a task. The concept of empowering for leadership as outlined by the prophet Isaiah (Isa 28:9 -10), requires conscientious pedagogy and willingness on the part of both trainers and trainees. This includes teaching the youth and bringing them up in the laws of God (2 Tim 3:15; Deut 6: 6 – 9) and correcting them.

Good guidance is another tool for successful empowerment, as exemplified by the Lord Jesus and Paul (2 Tim 2:1 - 2; 1 Cor 11:1; John 13: 15); this requires role-modeling relationships between the older generation (current leaders) and the youth. As we, the current leaders (Parents; Pastors; Teachers; National leaders) preach and practice virtues, we gradually spur the youth on to good works… Prov 22: 6.

Grooming of leaders to impart Godly influence starts from the home and church to ultimately benefit the society at large. The Bible is replete with good leadership, a case in point is the good upbringing of Timothy which facilitated his grooming by Paul resulting in him becoming an asset to the church and society (2 Tim 1: 5; 2: 2 -3). We draw insight also from Aristotle (350 B.C), ‘He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander’ reiterating that the next generation of  leaders can only be effective when trained from their childhood to be law abiding as affirmed in Deut 6: 1- 2; Josh 1: 8 and 2 Tim 3: 15– 17.

It is crucial that several areas of the youth must be developed for their holistic empowerment thus, the African Bible Leadership Initiative (Ghana 2014) is a good example of a youth empowerment programme.

The Way Forward

The Church in partnership with African and international governments, need to direct resources and formulate policies to improve the leadership skills of African youth. We should all remember that, “Young people are a gift to both their communities and the world” (Wangari Maathai, 2004), and this gift should be well developed and nurtured for our future good.