Whenever I step into an FOPx gathering, there’s a certain energy that hangs in the air. Whether the youth are jumping with arms up in worship or huddled in groups to pray – as I had found them on May 5, 2019, gathered to intercede for the Celebration of Hope (COH) – the atmosphere sits differently on your shoulders.

Maybe it’s their childlike anticipation of great things. The audacious prayers; the spiritual boldness of youth. Even without the smoke machine in a darkened hall, you just know you’ve entered holy ground.

Young people don’t always get the platform in the larger Church. They’ve tended to do their own thing in the youth churches before they graduate into the main adult service, upon which they become one of the crowd, juniors once again in a congregation whose median age stretches far beyond their own.

It is in this age of many transitions, the 20s to 30s, that many will leave church to handle the bigger things life throws at them. There are few official statistics, but as a second-generation Christian born and raised in a church of more than 2,000 members, I watched it happen firsthand. The leap from youth church wasn’t as easy as simply growing up.

The FOPx movement found its way to the light in 2016 when youth pastors started banding together to not just tend to their flocks – but turn them into the power-packed Jesus followers young people were made to be. After all, the original 12 disciples were quite possibly teenagers themselves.

“These people are the future of the Church,” Pastor Andrew Yeo, who leads FOPx, shared with me as the crowd from the FOPx Prayer Night for COH dispersed, many heading home to study for their upcoming examinations. “They could one day be our pastors, missionaries, full-time workers …”

We must look back at the 1978 Billy Graham Crusade, he continued. So many current pastors, even senior pastors, and full-time ministers had been there as young people during the rallies that had taken place at the old National Stadium.

Understanding that it takes considerable bandwidth to equip an entire generation for ministry by exposing them to the rigours of discipleship and evangelism, FOPx hopes to come alongside local youth pastors, so that youth congregations across Singapore can close ranks and contend for our city.

So hot on the trail of the Celebration of Hope rallies that took place just last weekend, the FOPx collective is calling forth thousands of young people to worship in the heart of the city on June 2, 2019. For the second time since last year, the FOPx Worship Night will be held in the field of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Singapore’s first church that was built on land set aside by Sir Stamford Raffles himself.

And this year it’s extra special, with Singapore celebrating our bicentennial – 200 years since Raffles touched down on our little island. Billy Graham also preached on this very field when he visited in 1978.

It’s also special for the FOPx collective, as they gear up and gather the troops for their 2020 vision, in which they are planning to host a two-day national youth rally for more than 10,000 people at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

FOPx Worship Night 2019 is really just the prelude. Even FOPx Conference this year, which will be taking place on November 21-23, will be a second act before the grand finale. But in the end, it’s really just getting in line with the heart of God to disciple His children and win souls for Jesus.

“Salvation is going to come not because there’s a great event but because God has determined He wants people saved,” FOPx worship leader Isaac Ong declared to those praying at the FOPx Prayer Night. “He has come to build His Kingdom. He sent His Son to die on the Cross to save us.

“This is not just a celebration of hope, but a revelation of hope.”

And here’s the best news: Everyone’s invited.

FOPx Worship Night will take place this Sunday, June 2, 2019, 7pm at the lawn next to St Andrew’s Cathedral. For more information and updates, follow @fopxsg on Instagram. The 2019 FOPx GO conference will be held on November 21-23, 2019 at Bethesda Cathedral. For more information or to register, visit their website.