“A few more minutes, Dad!” was the groggy response I heard back as I tried to wake my 2 older boys. With the start of the New Year, I have asked Caleb and Caden to commit to waking up early with me to do bible reading and devotionals before they head off to school (in the past, we had read the bible together before bedtime). With Old Man Winter finally arriving, the lure to stay a little longer in a warm and cozy bed is very inviting. Lately, God has placed on my heart the hope and prayer to see the next generation raised up, a creative and passionate generation who would be willing to take steps of faith and at the same time persevere when the going gets tough!
Working with the younger generation can be very capricious at times (just ask any parent)! There are days when you scratch your head and wonder if any change will come about. But I was reminded of God’s goodness and faithfulness in the midst of our perseverance through a Facebook message I received a few months into our Home Assignment here in the U.S. Over ten years ago when I was still a single man, working as a civil engineer, God had given me the privilege to meet up and disciple a group of students at the University of Maryland. Week after week for about four years, I would commute to campus right after getting off work, and lead a bible study with this group of young men in their dorm room. After they graduated, we parted ways and I didn’t feel like much really resulted from my efforts.
A couple months ago I received a Facebook message from one of the young men in that group. All he wrote was, “Thanks for making those long commutes out to College Park, Dave!” And right under the message was a link to a testimony he wrote for a Christian website. You have to understand that he was the only non-Christian in the group at that time. In fact, he shared in his testimony that he was furious when confronted with the existence of hell and the exclusivity of Jesus as Savior and Lord in one of our bible studies. He even exclaimed that he would rather be in hell than believe in our kind of God. But along his spiritual journey, he came to believe in Jesus Christ by God’s grace through the Alpha Course in a local church, and is now currently a fourth year graduate student at Westminster Theological Seminary preparing to be a pastor.
So what is the point of sharing this story? Sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with the younger generation is not always easy. Ministering to and discipling the next generation is not always effortless. Many times we may not see any immediate results or fruit either. Yet, the bible says, “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58).
With the recent Timothy Retreat, it was quite encouraging to see so many young adults be small group counselors – to listen, to love, to pray, and to pour into the lives of the Timothy students. As a church, may we recognize the need for inter-generational ministry, and learn to cherish and invest in the next generation with perseverance!
From Pastor Dave’s Heart
January 10, 2016