One of the primary reasons I write on a blog is that I feel a great sense of responsibility to the next generation. I believe God in His sovereignty and grace has placed me in a unique position that allows me to help young men and women in ministry. More and more I see new ways I might encourage a generation that really seems to “get it.” I am as excited about this as anything else I am doing right now in ministry.
Today I think a lot about ways we can help move young people forward. Sharing about the things we got right can be helpful, but we also need to be honest about the things we didn’t get right—the things we got wrong. As we look back, we see that some corrections and adjustments are in order. With every generation there is a tendency to amalgamate theology, culture, and pragmatism into one set of beliefs. At first “our own world of belief” seems very natural, but as time goes on the problems are exposed.
This generation is sorting out how a biblical church should look in 2012 and we need to help them process this without protecting “our own world of belief.” I have found that young people really are eager to dig into the Word and find out what is pleasing to the Lord (Ephesians 5:10). They also appreciate a healthy discussion and want to learn from us.
Those who have a few decades of ministry experience now have an incredible opportunity—not to widen the gap with this next generation, but to close it. When we sit down with our sons in the faith, we can take confidence that God’s Word is sufficient to guide all of us from where we are to where we need to be. Let’s be honest, humble, transparent, and elevate the Word with this next generation. Then we can be part of something much bigger than what we’ve ever known.