Helping the Next Gen Win
Week four - A Faith that Lasts
1 Corinthians 2:1-5 and Matthew 9:35-10:1
Bottom line: The faith of the next generation is worth everything.
Screens have become primary in discipleship
The Church, the gathering of people following Jesus, needs to reclaim this role.
Not going to happen by force, but by
The #1 fuel for caring about the next generation - Jesus made a big deal out of kids.
In a culture where children and women were second-class citizens at best, Jesus said, “Get out of their way,” and also, “Y’all better find a way to be like them if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)
What is the faith of the next generation worth?
- Tethering their faith to the resurrection of the person of JESUS
1 And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power. —1 Corinthians 2:1-5
It’s about “tethering their faith to the event that launched the movement that eventually brought us the Bible.” ~Andy Stanley
- Shifting our emphasis from believing in to following Jesus
You can believe all of the right things and still not do those things.
Christianity isn’t a reference point for our lives. It’s the context for our entire lives. —Crawford Loritts
- Involving them in ministry as early and consistently as possible
Jesus with the disciples - these were young, unschooled, ordinary guys that Jesus gathered together from the villages around his hometown
35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” —Matthew 9:35-38
1 Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. —Matthew 10:1
- The effort and expense to pursue them in meaningful and effective ways
Family ministry team makes up more than 50% of our staff
We get to be proactive in handing them a version of our faith that lasts through college and into adulthood, and through the myriad of challenges they will face
What is the faith of the next generation worth?
The answer has to be
It was for Jesus…