Olders and Youngers

There is an obvious distance in the lives of many olders and youngers who are Christ followers. Some of this is just age, some of this is culture and some of it is sin. There are very few olders who are taking the initiative to really "teach faithful men" who will pass the message of the gospel on to other faithful men. At the same time there is much cynicsm coming from youngers, which, to be honest seems to lack kindness and self-control that mark the fruits of the Spirit. Yes, there is a time for confrontation, yes there is time where rebuke is the most loving thing to give, but I'm afraid we justify slander all too often through this.

This from Christi Avant in Baptist Press news, she helps a church in NYC, funded by SBC churches, to reach out to the artistic community there.

“I have caught a dangerous trend arising in my generation, which "loves Christ but not the church."

Not all of this is our fault. We are crying out for our elders to step back and allow us to step up. We are crying out for them to fund relevant college ministries even though most of us cannot drop as much as they can in the offering plate.

However, we are crying out immaturely, like a 2-year-old throwing a tantrum in a grocery store.

Abandoning or "taking a break from" church is neither the right thing to do, nor is it any kind of solution to the problem.”

We need more stories like that of Rick at our church who joined a band just to get involved with younger's lives. Or of a group of men who meet weekly with a bunch of guys. This kind of relationship is all too often lacking, in our church and probably most others. We need the youngers to sit and converse with these olders also. I need to.

Here is a really interesting article that Barna put out about "passing the baton." It's a really interesting read.

Then go and listen to Noel's Message on this topic.