The Lie about NextGen

5 min read

18 Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.
19 Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens, you who have done great things. Who is like you, God?
20 Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.

Psalm 71:18-20

The church belongs to the next generation always. This should be the attitude of every age demographic of the church. That is to say that such an attitude needs to be taught from pre-school on. And that attitude needs to be taught in such a way that it is caught in the heart and mind.

IMHO.

The biggest problem I see in churches today is the “silo-ing” of ministries. In other words, elementary, junior high, and high school ministries are all put in separate siloes; college ministry is in another silo; post-college, singles’ ministry is in another silo; older singles are in another silo; young married couples are in another silo; couples with young kids, couples with older kids, and empty nesters are all put in separate siloes.

Not all churches do that, but the larger a church becomes, the greater the tendency is to silo ministries along age or life-stage demographics. When those siloes become “healthy and strong,” no matter how strong and unified a vision is for a church, all that the people will ever learn is to be siloed—separated from one another because of demographics.

Of course, every age group and life-stage has its unique needs that should be addressed in ministry. But how much are the differences going to drive ministry vision over the unifying messages of the greatest commandment and the great commission?

Again IMHO, I believe that the tendency to silo ministries along age demographics is a major contributing factor as to why young people are leaving the church and the pipeline for young ministers and missionaries is drying up.

Children and young people hardly ever have an opportunity to receive a steady diet of preaching of pastors who are more mature and wiser. They are robbed of the opportunity to learn that language, and so it always seems foreign and “other” to them until they themselves become older.

Such “silo-ing’ must seem pretty pointless to God. I was at the International Mission Board (IMB) this past week for an “Asian Next Generation Pastors’ Summit.” There was one brother who was talking about the next generation as being “millennials and Gen Z.” There was another brother who was talking about the next generation as being “English speaking.” I could immediately tell who was raised up in a “siloed” environment and who was raised up in a more multigenerational environment.

The IMB is driven by the vision given to us in Revelation:

9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

Revelation 7:9

The multigenerational character of that “great multitude” is assumed. But on earth, the devil has tricked us into “silo-ing” that “great multitude” along age demographics.

The church belongs to the next generation always. And that attitude can only be fostered if everyone is taught to see every age demographic as belonging to one church.

Father, I long for Your great commission to be fulfilled and for our Lord to return. Help us to stop seeing lines of separation, but make us to see our churches from Your eternal perspective. In Jesus’s name. Amen.