The Church Is in Good Hands
By Michael C. Mack
Statistics about the American church are a mixed bag of good news and bad news. A recent Barna survey revealed that nearly all millennial Christ followers (96 percent) say sharing the gospel is a major part of their faith, and they are also the most confident of any age grouping in doing so (73 percent said they are confident). Millennials also know more non-Christians than older generations. The bad news: nearly half of millennials (47 percent) say it’s wrong to share their faith with someone of a different faith, hoping that person will become a Christian.
Before further discussing the readiness of younger generations (Gen X, born 1965-1976; Millennials, 1977-1995; and iGen, 1996-2015) to lead the church, perhaps we should quickly assess the condition in which we older generations have left it. A study by Discipleship.org and Exponential.net found that less than 5 of 100 churches in America today are disciple-making churches as defined by Jesus’ model. It’s disheartening to do the math: About 95 percent of churches in the United States are failing to fulfill the mission Jesus gave us in the way he modeled for us.
Perhaps younger generations will pick up the ball we have fumbled and run forward with it. I believe they will. I pray they will. I’ll be cheering them on. Most of the young leaders I know through my teaching and mentoring and as editor of Christian Standard understand they can’t mass-produce disciples through programs, classes, or even traditional groups.
As an adjunct professor, I taught a “Small Groups & Discipling” seminary class consisting of young leaders at Cincinnati Christian University. I found their perspectives on church ministry refreshing and encouraging. One student wrote,
The [early] church did not grow because of an amazing discipleship program, an amazing preacher, or the best worship experience they ever had. The church grew because they were devoted to each other and the teachings of the apostles, sharing in meals and prayer together.
The students regularly pointed to biblical patterns of life together and to the values and principles the early church held dear, and they were much less excited about the forms, structures, and programs of churches today. One of our discussions centered on the early church’s adherence to the priesthood of all believers. That was not only a doctrine of the church, it was who they were: priests, co-workers with God, ambassadors, ministers of reconciliation. The students talked often in our discussions about ordinary believers in churches taking ownership of ministry, group leadership, and personal and group mission.
I have begun to encourage younger leaders not to do what I did as a minister—that is, spend most of my time and effort developing programs and connecting people into those programs. I challenge them instead to equip people (Ephesians 4:11-13, ff.) to make disciples in the places God has already sent them (Matthew 28:16-20). I try to remind them that Jesus did not tell us to build his church—that’s his job—but he did tell us to make disciples. That’s our mission, our only mission. Jesus uses people who make disciples who make disciples to build his church, one disciple at a time. From my many conversations with younger leaders, they get that and are doing it.
I find these younger leaders have a passion for restoring the pure, uncomplicated, unpretentious, yet dynamic nature of the New Testament church. One student wrote,
While we may not be able to put our finger on exactly what the problem is, many of us have silently wrestled with suspicions that the type of life we read about in Scripture does not line up with what we’re currently experiencing in our ecclesial communities. There is a depth, a richness, a mystery that enveloped the early church. We can feel it as we turn the pages of Scripture; yet it is despairingly absent from our services.
While many young leaders have a healthy dose of skepticism about the state of today’s church, I also see a generation inspired more by mission than meetings. In fact, mission was a word they used often in talking about the church. A student said, “The point of the local church is not to gather people into its building like a country club, but to send people out like Jesus did with his disciples.”
I find the pessimism that comes from some of my fellow baby boomers unwarranted and unhelpful. The young leaders I know have a strong faith; they depend more on God than themselves, their ideas, and their programs. Are they perfect? Of course not. I’ve grievously witnessed several young leaders “conform to the pattern of this world” in matters of scriptural authority, lifestyle choices (including those that are sexual in nature), and others. Some have “deconstructed” the Christian faith of their upbringing and have not reconstructed it based on biblical values. But I believe these are the exceptions rather than the norm. We must pray that any who have lost their way will be transformed by the renewing of their minds.
I believe the future church is in good hands . . . not so much because of the abilities of young leaders but because the church and its leaders are in God’s hands. He is still building his church.
Those of us who are no longer young leaders have a torch-passing role to play in these young leaders’ lives: to pray fervently and consistently for them, to love them, and to encourage them to “fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Timothy 1:6) and “guard the good deposit that was entrusted to [them] . . . with the help of the Holy Spirit” (v. 14).
Let’s keep cheering them on!
Michael C. Mack serves as editor of Christian Standard magazine. He and his wife Heidi live in Pewee Valley, Kentucky and have four adult children.
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