A Church for the Generations
Joey Cochran has written a post on Gospel Center Discipleship about bringing young and old together in the church. The gospel is not for the young alone. The gospel transforms culture and should be building bridges for us to be in family with people aged beyond us and exceedingly different in race, background and circumstance. But that is not the current reality for most of us and our church.
Cochran gives us clues as to why.
"One reason that a church is generationally uniform is because it started that way and stayed that way.
"For example, if the plaid, bearded, hipster, millennial church planting conferences that I’ve gone to during the last year is any indication of the uniformity within past generations, I might be onto something. These bearded, plaid-bearing men are a type that I am a part; I’m pointing the finger at myself here. We love to gather together with others just like us to learn how to minister those who are – shocker – just like us.
"If churches strive to be generationally mixed, it is important to start that way. They cannot be started with young people who are reacting to the stagnancy of older generational churches. It is not outlandish to claim that younger generations of the church become frustrated with how older generational churches function. The reasons for frustration vary. It could involve theological, philosophical, or cultural generational preferences.
"But these preferences have planted certain kinds of generational churches. Some may question if a generation can have theological preferences. But I guarantee there is a young, restless, and Reformed millennial generation that has “left behind” the generations before it..."
So if this is the problem, how can we solve it? Cochran says we do these things:
1. Construct Inter-Generational Gospel Communities
2. Promote Inter-Generational Gospel Discipleship
3. Make Disciples of Multiple Generations
He unpacks each of these and gives us hope of realize a generationally diverse church in his post. I commend it to you. Now how will you work to make this a reality in your church?
Cochran gives us clues as to why.
"One reason that a church is generationally uniform is because it started that way and stayed that way.
"For example, if the plaid, bearded, hipster, millennial church planting conferences that I’ve gone to during the last year is any indication of the uniformity within past generations, I might be onto something. These bearded, plaid-bearing men are a type that I am a part; I’m pointing the finger at myself here. We love to gather together with others just like us to learn how to minister those who are – shocker – just like us.
"If churches strive to be generationally mixed, it is important to start that way. They cannot be started with young people who are reacting to the stagnancy of older generational churches. It is not outlandish to claim that younger generations of the church become frustrated with how older generational churches function. The reasons for frustration vary. It could involve theological, philosophical, or cultural generational preferences.
"But these preferences have planted certain kinds of generational churches. Some may question if a generation can have theological preferences. But I guarantee there is a young, restless, and Reformed millennial generation that has “left behind” the generations before it..."
So if this is the problem, how can we solve it? Cochran says we do these things:
1. Construct Inter-Generational Gospel Communities
2. Promote Inter-Generational Gospel Discipleship
3. Make Disciples of Multiple Generations
He unpacks each of these and gives us hope of realize a generationally diverse church in his post. I commend it to you. Now how will you work to make this a reality in your church?
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