Talkin' 'Bout My Generation

Here's an excerpt from my article in our church's March 2009 newsletter. We're realizing a need to minister to young adults and young families in our community and we're in the developing stages of doing so. We're asking, "How do we minister to these?" I have some ideas and I'd love to hear some of yours, no matter who you are. (But if you happen to be a member of my youth group who read your newsletter and are now reading this blog because of it, then you might just win yourself a nifty little gift certificate...if you are my first student to respond by posting a comment about this blog entry.)

"If we’ve been raised in the church, wouldn’t we realize something was lacking if we all of the sudden discontinued our involvement in a routine gathering of fellow believers? There’s a deeper issue going on here. Like many, I was raised with an understanding that church is just another part of life; work on Thursday, family-time on Friday, baseball on Saturday, and church on Sunday. But here is the reality: being part of the “church” isn’t just another thing we do, it’s our very way of life. Are we raising a generation whose lives are centered in Christ or a generation whose faith follows the priorities of sports and shopping? For parents to pass on their faith to their children is a beautiful thing. But far too often the children never establish their own faith identity and when they leave their parents to move out and go to college, they’re left wondering what all that “church stuff” meant. Was it just songs on Sunday? Was it just rules and regulations and tradition? That’s what it seemed like."

Have you experienced that? Have you seen that happen to someone you know?

Here are some questions I've asked my youth group. These are questions that I will continue to ask. I will continue to guide my students as they process their answers. These are important:

What is the church?
What does God want the church to do?
Why do we attend gatherings?
Who is Jesus?
What does it mean to follow Him?

I firmly believe that if we have a better understanding in our youth of what God intends for the church and for His followers, our lives would maintain a course in pursuit of Christ. I think we're striving but I also think we've missed some things. I've missed some things.

Please join me in prayer for our ministry to young adults as well as our entire community!