What Kind of Church Are We Becoming?
By Jeff Grosskopf | Youth Pastor
I’ve gotta say, this summer has really been a contemplative one for me. Some of the summer reading I’ve done has given me a lot to reflect on.
As you might imagine, it’s also had me reflecting on the students and families who call BCC home.
As I look around our church, I see families trying to raise children in a complicated world. I see teenagers figuring out who they are and what they believe. I see parents doing their best. I see a church family with the opportunity to be part of it all.
And I keep coming back to one question: What kind of church are we becoming for them?
I don't just mean, “What do I need to do to create a better youth program?”
I mean, what kind of community are we creating where young people can actually learn what it means to follow Jesus?
Because I don't think faith is primarily passed from one generation to another through programs. It happens through relationships.
And our kids are watching us. They see how we relate to one another, how we handle disagreement, what topics we talk about regularly (and which ones we tend to avoid), and whether our faith makes a difference in how we live our lives.
They notice whether church is something we simply attend or whether it is a community where we belong.
That's why ministry to youth (and children) is really the work of the whole church.
The Message version of Psalm 78 says:
5 For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.7So each generation should set its hope anew on God,
not forgetting his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
I love that picture. One generation telling the next about what God has done.
Sometimes that happens in a classroom. Sometimes it happens on a summer trip, around a dinner table, or even when an adult takes the time to learn a teenager's name, ask them good questions, and listen more than they talk.
Sometimes it's as simple as a kid growing up knowing there are people at my church who know me, love me, and are praying for me.
That's a powerful thing to give a student.
And it works both ways:
Our teenagers need the church.
But as my friend Justin says, our church needs middle schoolers, too!
Our students bring questions, energy, and perspectives we need. They show us that following Jesus isn't supposed to become something we simply talk about. It's supposed to be something we live.
When I look at our children and youth of BCC, I don't just see the future of the church. I see the church!
I think God is doing something pretty special among us, not just through our kids and teenagers, but with them.
So what if our goal wasn’t simply to create a church that young people enjoy? Maybe our goal could be to become a church where generations actually need one another and where they belong to one another?
It feels like that's the kind of church we're becoming.