A New Generation

In my travels I am periodically greeted with a sigh of relief and renewed passion from men and women who are my elders. It appears that there is an enormous concern from some that we are at a transitional point in the church world which will define the future of the Body of Christ. There is the notion that there are few young men and women that are willing to sacrifice and answer the call into the ministry as our predecessors have. I understand the concern of the generation before mine, but I feel very optimistic about the future of the church. A very similar feeling was prevelant in Paul's day and Paul hit this head on with his admonition to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:11-16.

These things command and teach. Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity, until I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that heard thee. KJV

First off we discover that Paul admonished them to not only command, but also teach. If we are to have a succesful transition from one generation to another it must be taught. There must be instruction to both age groups on how to deal with one another. Whenever there is transition there will be changes that occur which can add tension, but the way to successfully transition is through education and open communication. As long as the core values of the organization are not changing it can be succesfully transitioned.

The admonition was to not despise youth, but rather raise the bar for youth to become the example. In the generation that is arising we must understand the clear cut differences than in a previous generation. We must give young people a cause that they can believe in. David cried, is there not a cause? Today, if we succesfully cast God given vision that is bigger than we are, then young people will be happy to join the vision. Youth in a church should not be viewed as black sheep, or those who have unrealistic expectations, but I believe the youth of a church can become examples of students of the Word, in conversation, in charity or love, in spirit, in acts of faith, as well as purity!

Now, before young people get to excited about being empowered to think that everything should be quickly handed over to them to transition to a new generation, notice the safeguard that the Apostle Paul stated. Paul asked the youth to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Basically what Paul was saying is that there are things that are required of a generation if they want to be the examples for a new generation. We can not expect the baton to be handed off just simply because of age issues, but through disciplined actions of reading, studying and listening our profit will become evidenced to all. This is the natural progression of things. In verse 16 Paul says to take heed, or be cautious about your actions, adhere to core doctrines and continue in them.

I truly believe that the best days of the church are ahead. Every generation has been concerned about the generation following them with good reason. We must make this a matter of prayer. Until we are willing to believe in youth and give them oppurtunity, youth will never rise to the challenge! Instead of wondering why youth do not step up to the plate, why don't we begin to embrace youth with love and slowly give them oppurtunity to grow into who God has called for them to be! In doing this we allow them to become a part of what God is doing as opposed to making them feel as though they can not be used by God until they have achieved some invisible mark of spiritual success.