CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Teachers/Disciplers

The Future of the Church?

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Perhaps I am a little biased on this subject, but I have to admit that each time I hear someone referring to high school students as the “future of the church” a part of me cringes, Don’t get me wrong. I agree with the idea that teenagers must be trained and equipped to one day become the leaders of the church. However, it seems to me that we do a disservice to the next generation if we treat youth ministry as a holding pen for students until they are old enough to do the real work of the church.

Just a few years ago, the Baylor University School of Social Work conducted a study where they found the students with the most mature, vibrant faith that carried on from the teen years to adulthood were those who were actively involved in the ministries of a church as teenagers and those who were engaged in meeting the needs of people in their communities. Given the overwhelmingly negative statistics concerning young adults and church involvement, I am willing to go out on a limb here and suggest that engaging teenagers in the life of your congregation is one of the more important things you can do in your student ministry. Stepping a little further out on the limb, let me also suggest that though the application of the Great Commission must be contextualized, the call to make disciples is equally as valid for the teenagers in your congregation as it is for the adults who inhabit your pews.

I was reminded of these truths again this summer as I had the privilege of directing Youth Excelling in Leadership (YXL), CEP’s denominational student leadership conference, and taking part in our sister conference, YXL Glorieta, held in Glorieta, New Mexico. The goal of both conferences is similar: to develop student leaders through the strong preaching of the Word. dynamic worship experiences, interactive leadership initiatives, leadership assessment, and the expansion of their biblical world and life view. One unique aspect of the YXL conferences is that the local church is asked to identify and recommend high school students that are ready for a week of intense Christian leadership training.

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This past summer, over 100 students and adults participated in YXL at Covenant College and another 85 took part in YXL Glorieta. In keeping with YXL’s theme of COMMIT, men such as Southern Methodist University RUF Campus Minister Chad Scruggs, Covenant College Chaplain Aaron Messner, and Assistant Pastor of Redemption Fellowship EJ Childs challenged students to explore more fully the commitment that Jesus expects from his disciples. The worship leader, Kirk Ward, Worship Director at New City Fellowship in Saint Louis, added music from around the world to encourage students to think more globally as they worship together. Add to the list a ministry project with Hope for the Inner City (www.hope4.org), paintball, caving in Raccoon Mountain, hiking on Lookout Mountain, and dozens of other leadership activities and YXL 2008 at Covenant College was a life transforming experience for not only the students who attended but for many adults there as well.

At YXL Glorieta, students were encouraged to RISE UP because “the resurrection changes everything.” Under the direction of John Ranheim, Development Director at Covenant Seminary, YXL Glorieta was a huge success. RUF campus pastors Justin Clement and Tom Franklin unpacked from Scripture the resurrection and helped students understand the implications of this event in their lives. Musician Ryan Anderson used his unique music style to draw students into wonderful worship experiences. The natural beauty of Glorieta, New Mexico, coupled with paintball, whitewater rafting, high ropes, and various leadership initiatives help set YXL Glorieta apart as a premier Christian leadership conference for PCA churches in the western United States.

However, it was during the nightly prayer times as I listened to high school students at both conferences crying out, grieving over personal and corporate sin issues, with almost childlike faith asking to be used of God that I realized again that students are more than just the future of the church.

I have been a believer for a little over two decades. For most of that time I have been involved in youth ministry. I am seminary trained and will soon possess the necessary credentials to be a pastor in the PCA, but I don’t know that I can recall many adult prayer meetings where prayers were offered with the sincerity and abandon that I experienced at YXL and YXL Glorieta this summer. let me go as far out on the proverbial limb as Ican this time and make one last suggestion. Perhaps the next time your church has a significant prayer need, you should move your teenagers out of the “future of the church” holding pen and into the ministry of your church by asking them to lead the prayer meeting. Based on my YXL experiences this summer, I have a sneaking suspicion that the adults of your church may be encouraged and challenged at the way the Holy Spirit can use young people to further the kingdom of God.

Children in Communion

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Children in Communion

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]This may sound like a dangerous topic in our circles, but there is so much we are missing. We do not allow children to take the elements, but why do we ignore them while the rest of us participate? Let’s think through some history.

In Jewish homes throughout the centuries, the Passover was one of the most important celebrations of the year in which a family participated together. While it is the father who would review Hebrew history and tradition on this night, a very unique responsibility was given each year to the youngest child, remembering that at least for one year each child would have been the youngest. It was a treasured position for the youngest child to be able to ask this most important question: “Why is this night different from all the others?” The father would then tell the family the story of Israel’s history from the time of Abraham.

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This tradition serves several purposes. It teaches the family every year about who God is and what He has done for His people. It keeps sacred the traditions that hold a family together. It utilizes a teaching method of question and answer. The meal, and all that goes on at the Passover, teaches the truths of who Christ is and what He has done (even though the Jews do not see that). It also places the children in a position of honor; they are given the privilege of asking this all-important question.

What does this have to do with the church today? There is a big emphasis currently on “intergenerational worship,” but what does that mean? What place do children have in worship, other than feeling like ignored spectators? Communion can be one of those important times when a child can be made to feel a part of the service while being taught what it is all about. Think of it this way, can you imagine the excitement each child in the church would have as they anticipate some upcoming Lord’s Supper when they would have the privilege of asking the question before the congregation: “Why is this celebration different from all the others?” This then becomes the opportunity for the pastor to teach again the truths of what communion is and why we do it as we do. This teaches not only the children, but also the adults. It helps the children to understand how important they are to God and also helps them to understand that one day they too will be able to participate fully in the elements as full members of the covenant community, of which they are already a part.

Why not try this for a few months and see if it does not give a deeper meaning to this important part of our worship.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Interconnected Discipleship

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Dennis.jpgIn the last Equip Tip, we emphasized the need of the church’s educational ministries to remember and return to the basics. Now, we address what those basics are. The goal of all our ministries is to make kingdom disciples. But what does that mean? A full-grown kingdom disciple would have two main characteristics. He would look, act, and think like Jesus and would be actively helping others become kingdom disciples.

Our theme in this edition of Equip to Disciple, as was the last, is the church. There is no kingdom disciple outside the church, because the church is the heart of God’s kingdom. In a similar manner we say there is no salvation outside the church because the two are inseparable. No individual has ever been saved to be unconnected to a church. Understand that the Bible never says Christ died for individuals. He obviously did. He did give himself to be a ransom for us, but not that we should remain individuals. The phrases used in the Bible say that Jesus died for His people, His body, His church, but never for individuals apart from the corporate body. Today more than ever, we need to instill in our students of all ages their need to be connected to something bigger than themselves, even beyond their immediate families. The church is God’s covenant family where we are members of one another, according to the apostle Paul.

When we teach the doctrine of the Trinity we teach the interconnectedness, the interdependent, and the reality of a close personal relationship. No member of the Trinity exists apart from the others. Being made in God’s image, we have those same relational characteristics. God said that it is not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18). He made us to be part of a community – interdependent and joined to each other for mutual love and support. Some of my friends involved in ministries often boast of their being independent. However, while they have good ministries, they are very lonely and isolated with no one to share ideas and accountability. I have been able to involve some of them in our denominational ministry training. While they might argue for independency, they welcome being connected to something bigger than themselves.

Greg Ogden, in his book Discipleship Essentials, says that Christians readily identify themselves as “Christians,” but are quite reluctant to call themselves “disciples.” An interesting observation because they see being a Christian as living a simple life with no demands placed on them. Whereas, being a disciple requires work!

What does all this mean for our educational ministries? Our goal is to make kingdom disciples. This means helping our people develop in three areas: their knowledge of the Bible and our doctrines, an ever deepening love for our Lord, and their abilities to do the work of the ministry. This “transformational” discipleship approach, as described in the book Making Kingdom Disciples, requires all three areas to be constantly addressed. The Holy Spirit’s job is to make us like Jesus. Our role is to help each disciple know and understand what that means and how it can be developed within them.

It is only as a denomination with a church and kingdom focus that we can effectively develop kingdom disciples who can and will think beyond an independent mindset. We need each other. We also need those resources that a denomination working collectively can provide that fit with our theological system. This includes a proper love for and involvement in the church’s discipleship ministry.

Let’s Not Lose the Basics

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The great football coach, Weeb Eubank, had a tradition at the beginning of every season. He would take all the new and seasoned players, sit them down, and then begin his lecture. He would take a football, stick it in their faces, and say to them, “Gentlemen, this is a football! Get to know it all over again.” He would go on to explain that unless they remembered the basics of the game of football, they could not win.

The same is true of the church. Unless we keep going back to the basics of who we are and what we believe, we will not continue to grow in the truth, for the truth starts with the basics.

When I was teaching in South Africa, I would tell the students the same thing every year. No matter what aspect of Christian work you go into, when you start in your new position always start by going back to the basics. If the people a l ready know them and can explain them, you are not wasting your time because we all need to keep going over them. If the people don’t know the basics, then you can only succeed, because to not teach the basics to your people means that you will have no foundation on which to build.

We are part of a denomination with many great traditions, but it is not our traditions which make up our foundation – it is the Bible! Our people have either grown up in our churches, or they have come from other churches and traditions where the basics may or may not have been emphasized. We are witnessing, even in the PCA, a weakening of our understanding of the Bible’s doctrine of the church. Because of this, some of our churches are accepting the teachings and practices of the Emergent Church Movement without even realizing what they are doing. We must never allow our churches to lose our understanding of the Bible or our traditions. In the day that happens, we will be like all the other churches who have stepped onto that slippery slope, moving further and further away from the truth, unaware of what is happening.

Here is my suggestion for pastors as well as teachers. Presume nothing! Find out exactly where your people are in their belief system. If they can articulate the basics, then you can move on. I emphasize articulate because if you simply ask people if they believe the Bible is the Word of God or that Jesus was born of a virgin, most of them will say yes. But if you ask them to explain and prove from the Bible these truths, you might be shocked by how little they really know. Read the lead article and ask your people if they understand the issue Charles is bringing out. Did you know that 60% of those that are won to the cults are won out of born again, Bible teaching churches? How can this be? This statistic occurs because we have wrongly presumed that our people truly know the basics.

THE BASICS: Teach them again for the very first time!

After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty- Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religon

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Editor’s note: In the book Making Kingdom Disciples: a New Framework, I included a chapter in part two on the importance of understanding the different generations. I was recently asked again why that is an important thing to know and do. I want to answer that good question by reviewing a new book which highlights why I believe that to be important.

Here is another book that pastors and other church leaders should read, especially in light of the above question. I know you feel you already have more than enough to read, which no doubt is true. However, because leaders are readers, I do not apologize for encouraging you to read. While pleasure reading is important, it is also crucial that we read strategically as well. This is a strategic read.

Over the years we have reviewed a number of Robert Wuthnow’s books. He is professor of sociology at Princeton University, as well as the director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton. I value his books, research, and challenging ideas.

This book will become a sequel to Christian Smith’s book, Soul Searching, on the American teenager that we have used, recommended, and sold from CE&P. After the Baby Boomer’s deals with young adults ages 21-45. While we have been placing much emphasis on rising generations and senior citizens, two very critical segments of our population, we have now realized that unless we understand the place of “buster and older millennial” generations, we may be missing the ones who will indeed shape religion in America. The church will run the risk of missing the young adult generation if it fails to understand it. In some situations, this is already the case.

Understanding the different generations is a part of understanding our world. You cannot read a book like Soul Searching (Christian Smith) or After the Baby Boomers (Wuthnow) and conclude that we can ignore what they are saying. Wuthnow explains what is happening as we experience in America an estimated six million less churchgoers today than in the past. We have also been aware of how the younger generations of adults are often taking a different route in dealing with spirituality and religion than previous generations. Wuthnow explains why and how that is the case, and he challenges us as to what it means for organized religion. His research in this book will make clear the impact of the internet, as well as how young adults can talk about “virtual” church.

After the Baby Boomers contains 11 chapters on various aspects of understanding the 21- 45 year olds. The appendix goes to great lengths to explain to the reader how the research was done, which is an education in itself. Wuthnow says in the preface that for our churches and synagogues, mosques and temples to exist, resources and people are needed. “These places of worship exist only to the extent that they are able to adapt to their environments. They are products of opportunity structures within those environments.” His challenge: “The fact that baby boomers are rapidly moving into the ranks of the elderly means that it is essential to understand how the next wave of Americans are thinking and behaving. The current generation of young adults cannot be understood historically through connections to the civil rights movement or the Vietnam War the way baby boomers are.”

This young adult generation numbers over 100 million and makes up one third of the American population. Wuthnow describes this age category as young adults who are taking longer to reach adulthood and fraught with uncertainties such as job security and national security. Add to those concerns information technology, immigration, and globalization and you easily see how important it is to understand these young adults. This not only refers to areas such as mentioned above, but also to their struggles with how to relate or not relate to things such as spirituality and religion. At one time these were one and the same but not for this generation. How they describe or define those things have direct implications on their thoughts and views of the church. You will be both fascinated and challenged by what you read in this book; and believe me, it must be read and understood.

There is no doubt that the future rests with these young adults. But as Wuthnow points out, you cannot conclude that they are always alike. Things such as marriage, children, and background make a big difference in their outlook, as does independency, no marriage, no children, no roots. Wuthnow says, “The future of American religion is in the hands of the adults now in their twenties and thirties…They are not as easily defined as other generations.”

We definitely need to spend more time studying and thinking about the role of these young adults in our society in general. One of many examples will highlight this. “The popular literature also makes arguments about ’emerging’ congregations that are somehow the wave of the future because they follow a new paradigm or hark back to models from the first century of Christianity.” They are much more oriented to “experience as opposed to creeds or novel liturgical styles.” Wuthnow says in another example, “a growing number of young adults do not marry, marry later, or do not stay married. Those are the realities of life that pose worries during young adulthood, affect one’s self-identity, and cause people to seek emotional support.” They are taking longer to establish themselves and settle into their communities, and they are tending to be dependent on their parents for a longer period of time.

The younger adults are characterized as tinkerers. “A tinkerer puts together a life from whatever skills, ideas, and resources that are readily at hand.” Within the tinkering process, the married young adults are given to church shopping. The unmarrieds are given to church hopping-some of this and some of that.

This study was funded both by the Lilly and Pew Foundations. Basically it concluded that unless those of us in church leadership roles understand these young adults, we are going to wake-up one morning and say, where is our church? Where are our ministries? Where are our missionaries?

Chapter 1 gives an overall synopsis of the book, but you have to read the other ten chapters to see the data which supports these conclusions. This is a must read and source of study for the church. We cannot bury our heads in the sand or fail to grapple with the issues impacting this young adult population. My challenge to you as you read this book is to ask yourself, “How can we not take time to understand them?”

Time: The Gift that Can’t be Re-gifted!

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MEMORIZE THIS STATEMENT: God has not given us more things to do in a day than He has given us the time to get it done.

I served as Academic Dean at a Bible college in South Africa. I told the students at the beginning of each year if they felt a teacher was giving them more to do than was expected they could come to me to complain. The only provision was that I would ask them to show me proof for how they spent their time during the week. In nine years I heard much grumbling, but not one student ever came to me with their accusation. This either meant that no teacher was giving too much work (which I don’t believe), or the struggling students were not using their time well. Which do you think was the case?

Time is the most precious commodity God has given to us, and it is not renewable! Once it is gone you can never make up for lost time. No one has more, or less, time than you do. You have 1440 minutes per day and 168 hours each week in which to offer faithful service. Even Jesus had the same amount of hours in His day, but think about the ways He invested that time. Peter said to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). Growth takes place over time. Your personal growth, or lack of it, is dependent upon the best use of your time. Time will not wait for you; it will simply pass you by.

We will be held accountable for the way we use our time. Paul says, Make the best possible use of your time (Col. 4:5, Phillips’ paraphrase), and, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil (Eph.5:15). Jesus tells us, We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over (John 9:4, The Message). God promised to supply our every need: Is time not one?

Sermons are often preached on the stewardship of wealth and possessions. Far fewer sermons are heard that hold us accountable for the use of our talents. Fewer still, if any, are ever heard concerning the stewardship of our time.

Where do you begin?


Set Goals -Decide what you want to accomplish. Or better, what God wants you to accomplish.

Prioritize – Take your list of goals and order them according to importance.

Plan – Develop strategies for how you will reach each goal.

Schedule -Set a date by which you will check your progress. Also set a date by which you hope to fulfill each goal.

Set a goal to set your goals – The most effective leaders set aside time at least weekly to lay out what they want to accomplish that week. One thing they have in common is the confirmed belief that the more time they spend planning, the less time they have to spend implementing. They argue that it is 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration. It may sound strange, but once you try it you too will become a believer.

Tithe – We often hear about tithing our money, but have you ever realized that we should also tithe our time? There are 168 hours each week. Do you give God at least 10% of your time?

If we agree that all good things are from God, and that He never asks us to do more than He has given the time to get it done, then time management is really managing His time!

God’s sixth commandment could read, “Thou shalt not kill time.”