Raising up the Next Generation

Do we want to reach the next gen or raise them up?

I was at a worship leaders conference a few weeks ago and went to a breakout session about raising up the next generation. The idea is not foreign to the church, but I believe the application often is.

It’s no secret that any church is one generation away from extinction. God promised that the Church will stand until his return; he did not promise that any local church will continue on until his return. Churches that seek to grow, that seek to succeed in winning souls for Christ, that want to make a difference, and that want to continue long into the future must have care for and be passionate about raising the next generation.

From experience, what I’ve witnessed is that while many churches care about reaching the next generation, they often have little concern (at least in practice) about raising up the next generation. They truly want to see kids and young adults to come to Christ, but they don’t truly want them leading the church. Really, they’d be happier conforming the next generation into their image of a church leader than they would actually raising them up into the leaders that God is calling them to be, whatever that may or may not look like.

The Church is changing. It has always been changing since its inception two millennia ago. It will continue to change. We don’t want to throw the keys to the sports car to the kids and let them wrap it around a telephone pole, but at some point someone has to teach the kids to drive. If we don’t put time and effort into helping those whom God has called become all that God has called them to be, then why should we be surprised when they don’t have the wisdom and discernment that we want them to have?

Throughout the Old Testament, God constantly used the testimony of the current generation (both good and bad) to inform the next generation. Read Psalm 78. Take a look at Deuteronomy 6:6-9 and Psalm 145:4-7. His name went forward as people passed their faith to the next generation, and his name went forward as people learned from the abysmal failures of the previous generations. He will do the same with our testimony. Which side of that story do we hope to be?

If we are only concerned about reaching the next generation for salvation but not concerned about raising up the next generation to be the next preachers, the next prayer warriors, the next worship leaders, the next evangelists, the next Sunday School teachers, the next theologians, the next elders, the next songwriters, the next biblical scholars, and the next missionaries, then we really don’t actually care about reaching the next generation. If we seek their salvation while trying to keep the control, we’re self-centered, prideful, and hypocritical.

I’m not quite 30 yet. I’m part of the “next generation” depending on how exactly we’re using that phrase. But there’s those who are even younger than me that are ready to be taught, mentored, and raised up. Whether you’re 30 or 70, we should desire to help lead the church into the future. Yet, too often, I see small flames and sparks of passion get stomped out, often inadvertently, but stomped out nonetheless, by people who don’t want to “lose” “their” church. I get it. We don’t like change. We want to push forward in the areas that have impacted us personally. We have passions based on our own life experiences. But for those like me who know that we have weaknesses and blind spots due to our lack of age and wisdom, we’re seeking people to build us up and help us grow not into who someone else wants us to be, but who God is calling us to be.

At least some of the next generation has already been reached. Now what?