What You Are - Henrietta Mears - The One Year Women in Christian History Devotional

1890–1963

Today, many churches have committed ministries for children, youth, and young adults, all of which have well-written curricula and trained leaders. Not all churches are able to provide this, but it’s certainly not unusual to find those ministries in healthy churches.

In the early and mid-1900s, that wasn’t always the case. Some churches had well-run ministries for their younger members, but curricula for Sunday schools and youth wasn’t abundant.

It took a public school teacher, Henrietta Mears, to help change that. A devout Christian, she had taught various Sunday school classes since she was a teenager. Then she left full-time teaching to become director of Christian education at the Hollywood Presbyterian Church. She was almost forty years old when she made this career change.

Inadequate and uninteresting. That’s how Henrietta described the materials the church’s Sunday school teachers were using. She started to write her own. Soon other churches sought the materials she was writing. To meet the demand, she founded Gospel Light Press to publish the lessons she created.

Innovation seemed to come naturally to Henrietta, and that’s one reason that young people were attracted to her. She became known as “Teacher” to thousands of youth and young adults during her ministry. She met them at the level where they were, but she had a knack for helping them grow greatly spiritually. Some of the young people she influenced included evangelist Billy Graham and Campus Crusade for Christ founders Bill and Vonette Bright.

Why was she so influential? It might have had something to do with her basic philosophy. She once said, “You teach a little by what you say. You teach most by what you are.” Young people are quick to pick up on hypocrisy. Henrietta lived out the faith she talked about, and the young people of her time appreciated that. Young people still do.

Are you involved in ministry with youth or young adults? Do you have influence over youth—your own kids, nieces or nephews, or kids in the community? Remember that it’s not just a cliché: your actions will definitely speak louder than your words.

You yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching.

Titus 2:7