INTRODUCTION

We have just returned from an extensive ministry tour of New Zealand and Australia, which occupied the entire month of April (see further report below under April Events).

 

These two great lands 'down under' occupy a geographical area larger than the United States, but their collective population is only about 23 million. Churches in both nations are having a powerful impact on their culture. In some cases, their influence is so great that it can have an effect on the outcome of political elections.

 

COMMON DENOMINATOR

However, there is one common denominator that stands out in a large number of Australian and New Zealand charismatic/Pentecostal churches and movements, which are growing rapidly. The common denominator is the average age of the congregations, which ranges predominantly from the early twenties to mid-thirties. There has been great success in passing the baton to the next generation! Without bias, in America, there are few exceptions in the failure to pass on a spiritual inheritance to the next generation in the Body of Christ. It appears to be an endemic problem that could even threaten the future of this nation.

 

MIA

When young Christians graduate from high school and go to college, they often crumble at the first lecture when a progressive secular professor makes a fool of them for believing in the 'myths' of the Christian world view. Or, they have been known to be threatened with lower grades for being an active believer in Jesus. Or, they fall foul to many of the anti-God interest groups on campus that aggressively vie for their attention from the outset.

 

It's not that they don't have the Word of God in them; it's just that they don't know how to use it. We would never just give a young person a weapon and send them off to war without training them as to how to use it first. The failure to adequately equip these young Christians is one of the biggest reasons why they are the missing generation from our churches.

 

SMELL THE COFFEE

Most American churches have a generation gap. There are plenty of kids and some teenagers up to 18, a few young adults, and then the bulk of the rest are over 40 or baby boomers, who are hitting their sixties now. Without a doubt, the style of our churches mostly caters to the boomers or older. Eighteen to 35 year olds, if they are there, concede to this or just don't come because they don't find it relevant to where they are at.

 

Relevance and applicability, especially in worship and in the message, play the most important part in attracting young people to church. The style of the building would come in behind this. It's time for my generation to wake up and smell the coffee! If we don't actively address this problem, there will not be a church to speak of in 20 years here in America. Let us be spiritual fathers and mothers, passionately eager to pass on the baton to those coming on.

 

HOPE BURNS BRIGHTLY

Vonette Bright, wife of the late evangelist Bill Bright, recently shared some of the observations she's gleaned on the spiritual state of America and what her hopes are for America in years to come. "I think this generation is very spiritually sensitive because they have seen the material kinds of things that we (the generation before) have given to them as not satisfying" she said. "There's got to be something more to life, more meaning to life than just the material. I'm encouraged by the young generation, I think they're thinking people, unselfish, and beginning to turn away from the 'everything is for me' concept. My grandchildren are more concerned with other things than 'just what I want.'"

 

There is hope, if we have a passion for the baton! #