Last week I wrote about fragile nature of movements, even powerful ones. Every vibrant work of God has an ever nearing expiration date, that date is the day the humans that make up the movement will expire themselves. We move closer to that “best by” date every day. That is why we must must always have the mindset of our need to pass the baton on to those who will be running when we have “spoiled.”  This mentality is a feature that can be found in some of the most prolific stories in scripture. What do Moses, Elijah, Mordechai, Naomi, Barnabas and Paul have in common? Besides a passion for the Lord they all focused time and attention on reaching and raising up young people. As a result, Joshua, Elisha, Esther, Ruth, John Mark and Timothy knew that they shouldn’t let anyone look down on their youth and so the movements continued. If we want what God has done in our lives and churches to continue we must have a similar focus.

I believe that the first step to take in effectively reaching young people (or any people) is simply having the desire to reach them. You have to have a burden from the Lord for them. It wasn’t until Paul was provoked within His spirit in Acts 17 that he went out and preached Christ in Athens. Similarly, we often read of Jesus being moved with compassion in the gospels and then speaking or ministering. If our actions flow from anywhere other than a genuine burden for lost people that comes from the Holy Spirit we will find the challenges to be too great. If on the other hand we ask the Lord to ignite a fire in our hearts and to give us His love for the lost then it won’t matter how challenging the road and how many obstacles are in our way.  If our hearts are set ablaze from on high, we will be unstoppable!

Once you have a burden for a particular group, audience or people, next you must take radical steps to target them. I am no fishermen but I know that if you have decided you want to fish for trout there are different things you will bring than if you want to fish for salmon, and that is an altogether different equipment list than will be needed if you are fishing for marlin. Companies realize this–that is why they are constantly addressing and readdressing the intangible attributes of their brands. From Cadillac to Nike to Nickelodeon–companies are never satisfied with how their brand is perceived right now, they know that in a few short years (or months) everything can change and they are constantly targeting youth.

Now in saying that, I know that many will immediately wonder, what we should be willing to change exactly? I suggest you tweak the Style not the Substance, your Methods not the Message. To use the fishing analogy–adjust the bait, chum and lures not the hook, the line or the net. We must not try so hard to be just like the world in order to reach the world and in the process give up what we had to offer to the world in the first place. The message is unchanging but the media delivery vehicles employed, graphic design, vibe, feel, sound and expression should be fluid and changing with the culture.

I have heard pastors, leaders, and others complain to me many times that there aren’t young people in their churches, and they ask, why do I think that is? I tell them it is probably because they are catering everything to those who are their age. And that is never a revelation to them, they nod because they already intrinsically knew that. But then they often admit they are reticent to do things differently. Why? The most common fear that I have heard is not wanting to offend those who are already there. They are afraid that the “tithe base” would all leave if they were willing to try “risky” things in order to reach lost young people.

I am constantly asked about the age of those who come to fresh life—given my age, the fact that we have given announcements through auto-tune and have a bible study called skull church, they probably expect to hear me say that there is no one over 30 and that freshlife is a big overgrown youth-group. But that is not the case at all, there are tons of young people, but tons of grownups also, all worshipping together. Visitors to our church and guest speakers are often surprised at the age diversity. The hairstyles say it all, there are mohawks, faux-hawks and no hawks. Sure there are those with gauged ears and tatted arms, but there are also those rocking grey and silver strands as well.

What I have found is 2 things:

1. Many who are advanced in years actually dig the current stuff. They are being exposed to things that they love or learn to love–we have discovered a whole slew of secretly rocked out senior citizens. Often we don’t give people enough credit at adapting.

2. Even if they don’t like the music or style personally, they can put up with it because they love that those who will be living when they are gone are into it. I hear over and over and over again from people, how much they love seeing youth in church and people (of all ages) coming to know Christ. I even had one older gentleman show me that he brought earplugs to church for the music but loved the Bible study. LOL

One of my favorite pictures illustrating this is a shot of an awesome guy in our church named Warren that was taken a while back. He serves wholeheartedly at skull church, counseling the new believers that make decisions for Christ at the service. In the pic he is rocking his skeleton crew shirt and is getting a little tutoring on the use of a blackberry.

Warren might not ever “tweet” questions during the service (as those who attend can) or buy a red bull at the espresso bar, but he does enjoy the vs by vs Bible teaching, he is stoked on all those who have given their lives to Christ, and he is happy to be apart of bringing the uncompromising gospel message to a lost generation in a culturally relevant way.

And to those who are afraid of shaking things up for fear of offending people, I would say that anyone who isn’t thrilled by the prospect of reaching the next generation for Christ, you shouldn’t be too bummed on losing if they do leave. I would rather have a few people leave the church because we aren’t doing things the way they like, or the way their last church did things than for us to depart from the mission that God has called us to. That may sound harsh but my thinking is that if they are a Christian, they are already saved, and there are plenty of churches they can go to that are doing things the way they want them to be done. Those who don’t know Christ are the ones I am concerned about. And I have been so blessed by the sheer volume of support from those who are “advanced in years” as we have unapologetically stated that we want to see those who are stranded in sin find life and liberty in Christ. Because they know that if we don’t focus on the next generation, it will end with us.

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”

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