Generations

by Tom Johnston

It is said that, in any nation, the Christian faith is always just one generation away from annihilation. If the parents of one generation fail to transmit the faith to those who follow behind them, then the witness for Christ in that land will evaporate, and dissipate like a mist. Are we in the West now on the brink of this reality coming to pass? Are we truly at (or past) the “point of no return,” where the Church will not thrive, but continue its massive decline until little, or nothing, remains of a once vibrant witness it held forth?

The statics are shocking to say the least. It appears that we have not even reached the numerical equivalent of our own children in this generation. Only three percent of the Millennial generation have a positive view of the Church – and it seems that number is the same for those young people inside the Church! The Vatican released figures a few months ago that those in America who claim Roman Catholic heritage born since 1980 have less than a 10% participation rate, with only about 4% of all Americans in this age group calling themselves “Christian.” Our own personal surveys and interviews with pastors and Christian leaders indicates that few, if any, pastors and leaders have a regular structured discipleship time with their spouse or as a family during any given week. However, while the statics are grim, all is not lost.

We are raising a call, not for a new generation of spiritual children, but of spiritual parents – men and women of faith who will take responsibility for developing in the faith those who follow behind, starting with their own families. That’s right, you don’t get to export it if it doesn’t work at home (1 Timothy 3:4, based on Deuteronomy 6:4-7.) The New Testament metaphor for leadership is quite often parenting: Jesus, Peter, James, John all refer affectionately to their spiritual “children,” not in any form of condescension, but in the sense of giving life to another. Being a life-giving spiritual parent is the call of every Christian, and is much more biblically aligned than the positional, titular corporate role functions most often embrace by leaders in the Western Church.

So, who are you giving life to, spiritually? Who are you fathering or mothering in the faith? Who are you strengthening and encouraging, building and nurturing? Who do you have relationship with that you desire to pour spiritual life into, like Paul did with the Galatians:

my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! (Galatians 4:19)

We will never have another generation of Christians in this country unless we take responsibility to disciple and mentor those who follow behind. We cannot subrogate our personal responsibility before God, passing it off to the institution of the Church, relying on someone else or some program to disciple our own children. Nor can we entrust the development of next generation leaders to the classroom alone. Timothy and Titus had Paul, not a DVD or a syllabus. Apollos had Pricilla and Aquila to “more correctly” instruct him in the Way (Acts 18:26.) It is through the “curriculum of life” that someone learns how to follow Christ in discipleship, how to treat their spouse, how to raise their children. It happens “on the way,” each and every day, as people walk together with Jesus.

So, what will it be? Will the Church in the West decline and fail? Will she become like Europe has? Indeed we will, unless each of us takes on the challenge of discipleship – first of ourselves, then of our families and then those whom the Lord leads us to through relationship. Be a life-giver. The time is now. The choice is yours.