Minister to Emerging Generations at Brentwood Baptist Church in Nashville, Tennessee
Context –
Creating intentional ministry environments.
In his book
The Present Future, author Reggie McNeil notes that “the community of faith should be an
environment where the number one pursuit is the development of human beings created in the image of God and redeemed into his family through Jesus.”
[4] We quickly discovered that in the past we had relied on programs or events that kept children and students busy and active, but most of these programs and events did little to foster a relational environment in which we focused on developing true disciples of Jesus Christ and not just the creation of consumers of church programs and services.
We approach our ministry environments through the metaphor of a three-pronged electrical plug.
We want our children and students grounded in worship, growing in discipleship and going on mission wherever God leads them.
In our weekend
worship services, we encourage intergenerational participation, as children and students need to grasp that they are part of a larger body of believers and they contribute through their worship to this witness. In our weekend and mid-week
discipleship venues, we emphasize small group environments with trained leaders facilitating life-on-life biblical discussions with a generation that senses naturally that discipleship is “caught” as much as it is “taught.”
We provide catalyst opportunities for children and students to understand that they are “
on mission” with God wherever they go, utilizing an
Acts 1:8 framework that exposes our children and students to consistent service opportunities locally, cross-culturally and internationally.
Catalysts –
Two spiritual influences are better than one.
Research shows that we have on average about 40 hours a year of biblical instruction at church. Parents, by comparison, have over 3,000 hours a year outside of school and work in which they are constantly “teaching” their children something!
[5] The powerful and timeless message of
Deuteronomy 6:4-7 articulated our convictions: if we are going to see a generation “emerge” to love God with all their heart, soul and strength, then we are going to have to re-direct much of our time and energy to equip parents (most of whom were not invested in spiritually by their own parents) about what it meant to “impress” these truths upon the lives of their children.