REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION

Ever so often I have the privilege of speaking at a Lee University Chapel or Convocation… I love these opportunities, and usually walk away feeling as if I’ve received so much more than I was ever able to share…

What do I love about sharing at Lee? I love this age group… I love the idealism… I love their passion… I love their desire to do something, to go out and change their world…

The church I pastor has a growing number of young adults that make up our church! For instance, most of the members of our band are in their twenties or late teens… (Yeah, we have a couple of people just in their thirties, and we also have my wife who leads the team… I think she’s still 29…) My wife and I love these guys and gals!

Tonight, our home will be jammed with a small group for couples who are either engaged in the first two years of their marriage… All of them are in their twenties… We’re pumped about doing life with these guys and gals for the next 10 weeks…

We believe that reaching and discipling the next generation is something we are called to do! It's critical! It's crucial! And we are passionate about it! We have two daughters who are in this age category (18 and 22). We so want these girls to keep living “lights out” for Jesus!

Here’s the question: How do we reach the next generation?

In the new book, Don’t Call It A Comeback, Kevin DeYoung lays out a strategy for reaching the “next generation.”

I really like DeYoung’s strategy! I like it because it’s not based on programming, musical style or really cool media… It’s based on a few…basics… Here’s a brief summary / overview of DeYoung’s strategy for reaching the next generation…

How do you and your church measure up?

(1) Grab Them with Passion.

You can have formal services, as long as you don’t have formalism. You can have casual services, so long as you do not approach your faith casually. Your services can have a lot of different looks, but young people want to see passion.

If our…faith is boring to us, it will be boring to others. If the gospel is old news to you, it will be dull news to everyone else.

We cannot pass on what we do not feel…

QUESTION: How are you and your church doing when it comes to passion?

(2) Win Them with Love.

Give up on relevance, and try love. If they see love in you, love for each other, love for the world, and love for them, they will listen. No matter who “they” are.

Talk to people. Notice visitors. Invite new people over for lunch. Strike up a friendly conversation at the greasy pizza joint. Let your teenager’s friends hang out at your house.

Love won’t guarantee that young people will never walk away from the church, but it will make it a lot harder. It won’t guarantee that non-Christians will come to Christ, but it will make the invitation a whole lot more attractive…

QUESTION: How are you and your church doing when it comes to loving the next generation? Do you create opportunities to hang out with twenty-somethings? Do you genuinely love this age group from the heart?

(3) Hold Them with Holiness.

If nothing of spiritual significance is happening in your church, your Bible study, your small group, or your family, it may be because nothing spiritually significant is happening in your life.

19th Century Scottish Pastor, Robert Murray M’Cheyne once said: “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.”

My congregation needs me to be humble before they need me to be smart. They need me to be honest more than they need me to be a dynamic leader. They need me to be teachable more than they need me to teach at conferences. If your walk matches your talk, if your faith costs you something, if being a Christian is more than a cultural garb, they will listen…

Far too much ministry today is undertaken without any concern for holiness. We’ve found that changing the way we do church is easier than changing the way we are. We’ve found that we are not sufficiently unlike anyone else to garner notice, so we’ve attempt to become just like everyone else instead.

Ouch!

QUESTION: Are you and your church passionate about living a transformed and holy life? Does your life and lifestyle speak louder than your words?

(4) Challenge Them with Truth.

When it comes to reaching outsiders, bold, deep, biblical preaching is not the problem. It’s part of the solution.

The church in the twenty-first century must go big on truth or go home…

QUESTION: Are you and your church bold when it comes to preaching and teaching the truth in love? Or, do you acquiesce to political correctness?

(5) Amaze Them with God.

The gospel is not a message about what we need to do for God, but about what God has done for us. So get them with the good news about who God is and what He has done for us…

Give them a God who is holy, independent, and unlike us, a God who is good, just, full of wrath, and full of mercy. Give them a God who is sovereign, powerful, tender, and true. Give them a God with edges. Give them an undiluted God who makes them feel cherished and safe, and small and uncomfortable, too… Give them a God worthy of wonder and fear, a God big enough for all our faith, hope and love.

Do your friends, your church, your family, your children know that God is the center of the universe? Can they see that he is the center of your life?

As you try to reach the next generation for Christ, you can amaze them with your cleverness, your humor, or your looks. Or you can amaze them with God…

QUESTION: Are you blown away by God? Do you present people with a God-sized vision of God, or have you placed God in a box?


Check out Kevin DeYoung’s book, Don’t Call It A Comeback… The book basically contains an overview of what Christians ought to believe and what we need to do. Good stuff.

Now, let’s put this stuff into practice and go out and reach the NEXT GENERATION!