Discipling the Next Generation

 

Reflecting on my years in youth ministry, I must admit I was more often motivated by numbers than I was in discipling teens.  Cutting myself some slack, there were some members of my youth group with whom I had a close relationship.  I was very intentional when it came to equipping them to live out their faith.  Still, I was very aware that in the eyes of others, especially the pastor and church leadership, I was going to be evaluated on the level of participation.  I also must confess that self-pride was involved when I met with peers and we started comparing numbers. 

These thoughts came to mind as I read a recent article published by the Barna Group.  Barna identified five measurable characteristics of a holistic and active faith.

 

Spiritual practice - Praying and reading the Bible regularly

Evangelism – Sharing faith with others

Service – Volunteer and use talents to serve others

Belonging – Spend time with church friends

Calling – Feel called to integrate their faith with future career plans

 

As I considered the list, I was drawn to the reality that those are the same characteristic. we look for in disciples across the generations.  I need to be striving for the same goals in my ministry to older adults.

In the case of the Barna report, while over half of Christian teens participate in youth group, only one in four (18%) showed signs of a holistic and active faith.

The unfortunate reality is that we, as a church, usually do a poor job of discipling people of all ages.  Again, we still are drawn to evaluate our ministry in terms of numbers.  These days, if we can just keep the pews full and the budget balanced, we feel we are doing okay. As a result, often our goal is to just keep people happy and maintain status quo, rather than reaching the lost. 

We must be discipling people of all ages, but especially the next generation, it needs to be a community effort.  While we might add staff members to coordinate youth and children’s ministry, we must be ready to partner with them in the effort.  Discipleship is a community responsibility.