Bob's Blog

I read this the other day. It comes from D. A. Carson commenting about the Church and generations. He said that one generation believes a truth, the next generation assumes a truth, and the third generation denies the truth. Does this speak to our current situation in our churches? I wonder how much this statement rings true in the region we live. I still believe that the middle of our nation is prone to be more "Christan" than we are on the west coast. I don't mean that one group of believers is following Christ more than another, but that the Christian "religion" is more accepted in certain areas in our country than in other places. That's not necessarily a good thing. Doing "church" is religion without love and is not who we are, but being the Church of Christ is glorious and full of power.

As a westerner, I see our churches out here searching in need of an identity. It's one reason I believe we have so many models of church and why young adults are looking for a place to call Home. In his book, Vintage Church, Mark Driscoll points out how quickly we have forgotten in how to pass along our faith to the next generation. There are two things that I have noticed with churches in Southern California, and I'm not claiming to have perfect insight, but I do talk with many college-age people, church staff workers, and pastors who minister to young adults. Churches are struggling to connect, pass along, or hold on to their young people. However you like to put it, a younger generation is leaving their faith. Second, there is a lot of criticism about the Church. Critiquing is one thing but to bash Christ's Bride is something far different.

If we are to stop the exiting of our young people, let alone to reach a younger generation, we need to understand who we are in Jesus. The Church is God's plan to draw the world to Himself and He chooses no other way. That's an amazing truth. We can develop the greatest college ministry or create small communities of young adults but unless we understand the unique beauty of His Church and how to pass that to another generation, we're only fooling ourselves in thinking we're accomplishing His mission.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 22, 2010 at 7:55 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.