“How do we prevent suicide among your teenage friends?” This powerful question sits at the heart of today's episode of Faith Without Frontiers, where host Gordon Showell-Rogers speaks with Geordon Rendle, Youth for Christ’s global youth advocate, about faith, mental health, grief, hope, and the urgent need to truly listen to today’s teenagers.
Geordon Rendle has spent decades working with young people across different countries and cultures. His life story is one of global experience, deep compassion, and a lifelong commitment to seeing young people recognized not as a problem to be managed, but as people with purpose, gifts, and the ability to transform their communities.
Canadian by passport and deeply shaped by his years in Latin America, Geordon grew up in Colombia as the son of missionaries. From an early age, he witnessed both human brokenness and remarkable resilience. His experiences alongside vulnerable communities, including visiting prisons with his father as a child, shaped his conviction that every young person deserves to be seen, heard, and valued.
Throughout this episode, Gordon and Geordon explore the challenges facing a generation experiencing rising loneliness, anxiety, and questions about meaning and identity. One of the central themes is the importance of giving young people agency — creating opportunities for them to contribute, lead, and participate in meaningful ways.
Geordon challenges adults and churches to rethink how they view teenagers. Rather than seeing young people only as the future of the church, he argues that they are part of the church today. They have insights, creativity, and spiritual gifts that should be welcomed and trusted.
A key idea discussed in the podcast is what Geordon calls “upstream leadership.” Instead of only responding when young people are already in crisis, communities need to ask deeper questions: Why are young people struggling? What pressures are shaping their lives? What can be done before they reach a breaking point?
When discussing the issue of teenage suicide, Geordon emphasizes the importance of listening. Young people themselves often understand the struggles of their peers better than anyone else. By including them in conversations and solutions, families, churches, and communities can work together to restore hope.
Today's episode of Faith Without Frontiers is ultimately a conversation about relationships between generations. It asks what happens when adults stop assuming they already know the answers and begin listening to the voices of young people themselves.
With honesty and wisdom, Geordon Rendle offers a message that reaches far beyond youth ministry: there is always hope, and every young person deserves to know they are loved, valued, and called to make a difference.
