Pastor taps into youth trends

SING trending topics on social media and even catchy phrases from action movies, an Overport, Durban, church is aiming to fill its pews with younger congregants.

Conquering Through Prayer Ministries International will launch a youth service on April 29.

It will be headed by Pastor Shane Pillay, who said he was passionate about youth ministry, development and leadership and that this was one of the ways to target young people, who may have fallen off the straight and narrow.

“Playing games and eating biscuits is not what young people want. They want real, genuine, in your face kind of truth that will talk to them and their situations,” said Pillay.

“In today’s society, many churches are losing young people by the numbers. Youths are battling family challenges, distrust, embarrassment, betrayal, drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, political degradation and so much more,” explained Pillay.

He said his senior pastor, Clive Gopaul, had received numerous calls from parents, who wanted counselling for their children and this had disturbed him.

For Pillay, the idea to open the youth church was born, while on a plane returning to South Africa after a missionary trip to Rwanda.

“Remembering all these issues, I had this sudden challenging thought of how I could assist parents and appropriately help youth in our quick, developing world.

“I wanted to create a platform for thousands of young people to worship God freely without any reservation and so the youth church was born.”

He said under his supervision, the youth would run the church and sermons or messages would be relayed based on trending topics on social media.

This, said Pillay, included phrases from the Fast and the Furious movie franchise: “I live my life a quarter mile at a time; for those 10 seconds I am free,” he said, citing an example.

Through the youth church, Pillay aims to raise leaders, who will take the country forward.

“I believe that if we put in enough leadership and godly concepts into our youth, young men will become better husbands, fathers and priests. Young women will become better mothers and fantastic mentors to their own.”

He said prisons allowed the incarcerated the use of Bibles but these were kept away from schools.

“If Bibles were allowed in schools, the prisons would be empty and families would be full.”

Pillay said South Africa needed a generation so strong that they could stand against anything.

“We need a peaceful generation with integrity, character and love for mankind.”

Many Mothers, Many Fathers.

TRADITIONAL: The beautifully decorated 15m-high chariots graced the streets of Durban on Friday and Monday evening. This tradition has taken place for 29 years but has been hosted in different areas around Durban since the 1980s.

HAPPY FACES: A mini Festival of Chariots took place on Sunday at the festival grounds. Children danced, chanted and pulled the mini chariot. This formed part of the activities of the Blue Mountain Children’s Village.

Several hundred devotees from across the country gathered for the Maha Vishnu Brahmotsavams Easter Chariot Festival in Illovo, south of Durban, on Saturday. They pulled an ancient chariot through the village from the temple to a local sports ground.

PRAISE SONGS: The Shri Mariammen Temple in Mount Edgecombe held its Easter prayers and festivities over the long weekend. This women’s devotional group, among others, rendered songs to the thousands of devotees who attended.

Pastor Shane Pillay uses trending topics on social media to minister to the youth.

LOCAL CAST: His Holiness Bhakti Marg Swami (Canada) has visited the Durban Festival of Chariots for the past 18 years as the producer and director of the festival dramas. He used a local cast to enact the dramas based on the Vedas. This year the...