Building the Family
Notes
Transcript
Sometimes at these services I feel a little bit like Moses. I need an Aaron to speak for me. :)
I find it very interesting how God gives us dreams, glimpses of what he is doing, long before he does it. Years ago I began to observe two trends that really disturbed me. The first trend was that my peers, those I grew up with, were finding that their home church did not know what to do with them as they became adults. I had friends who led ministries while at college who then returned to their home churches looking to serve and were told to go to youth group or a college class. They felt like they were just being treated as kids instead of an active part of the family. Many of them left their home churches in frustration.
However, this was not my experience. I grew up in a church where many of my friends and I served every Sunday, mostly on the worship team. Whenever I came home for the summer I was right back on the drums, doing my part on the worship team at my home church after having been serving in the same ministry throughout the school year.
The second trend I observed came as I served at churches where we hosted language churches, both Korean and Slavic (Ukrainian). I noticed that for those churches the parents and grandparents saw church as a way to both pass faith and culture on to the next generation. However, the children and youth of the church quickly left when they reached adulthood because they struggled to learn because of the language barrier as their heart language was English. This greatly grieved me.
Revelation 7:9 says:
After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.
Después de esto miré, y he aquí una gran multitud, la cual nadie podía contar, de todas naciones y tribus y pueblos y lenguas, que estaban delante del trono y en la presencia del Cordero, vestidos de ropas blancas, y con palmas en las manos;
This is the dream that was birthed in me, and in many of the members of Prosperity Avenue Baptist Church long before I came here to serve. I believe that as a church family, we must seek to pass on our faith to the next generation and not allow something such as language be a barrier.
Psalm 145:4 tells us:
One generation will declare your works to the next and will proclaim your mighty acts.
Generación a generación celebrará tus obras, Y anunciará tus poderosos hechos.
It is our privilege and responsibility to pass our faith on the next generation, not just in our biological family, but in our church family. This does not happen by accident. We must intentionally reach out and connect with the next generations.
When Sarah and I were in college we attended a small Mennonite church in the heart of the city of Baltimore. There a couple, Harold and Janie, made sure that they reached out to all the college students who visited the church. They took us out to lunch, prayed for us, and told us how they missed us when we could not make it. Later Harold served as a mentor for me for several months before he unexpectedly passed, but his investment helped me navigate a difficult season of my life.
Growing up it was Dave who would ask each teenager how their week had been, how their classes were, and intently listen and hold court, telling fun stories and encouraging us as the adults were off talking on their own.
At another stop on our journey we met a lady who was the church aunt. She never had children of her own, but every child in that church had her for an aunt, especially the staff kids whose nearest biological relatives were hundreds or thousands of miles away.
The list goes on, but this is what it means to declare God’s works to the next generation. I dream of a day when every child in our church family has several “uncles”, “aunts”, “grandmas”, and “grandpas” here that have earned that title not by biology but by loving them with Christ’s love. I want to challenge us to take a step toward that today.
Each year we have embarked on something called the “Pray for Me Campaign.” It is a time when as adults we commit to praying for one child daily throughout the upcoming school year. But it is deeper than that. We commit to encouraging them, asking them “how are doing?”, “how is school?”, “what is your favorite subject?” and then following up the next week with relevant questions and encouragements. I encourage you to work with that child’s parent to send them birthday cards. Get to know their parents as well. But remember, we are declaring God’s works, God’s goodness, to the next generation.
Now parents, children, and youth, you will have the opportunity to choose 3 adults to pray for you. Parents, I encourage you to help your younger ones choose. I encourage you to try to pick someone a little younger than your parents, about the age of your parents, and someone your grandparent’s age if you can. It is not required, but I encourage it.
My challenge today is this: will you commit to making disciples by proclaiming God’s works to the next generation?
If not, do you need to repent of a sin so that you can make that commitment?
So adults, if you are willing to pray