Our Next

Our Next

Generations. 

I’ve been thinking about that word a lot lately.

The past, the present, the future.

Generations of people are what makes up the story of humanity. The story of us. 

And that’s something that I love about my line of work. I get to watch spiritual generations pass on Jesus to future spiritual generations.

Let me explain.

In college ministry, you meet freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, and at times super seniors (or super super seniors). All of them at different walks of life. All of them on different spiritual journeys.

My job, or mission I suppose, is to engage each person where they are spiritually, love them like Christ, share Him with them, and patiently mentor any of them that actually want to follow Jesus. And that brings me to generations.

I get to see young disciples of Jesus start to seriously follow Him, and as they do that they start to mentor students of their own.

For example, I am discipling a student on a campus here in Mozambique. We have led a small group together, mentored his classmates together, and have had lots of opportunities to learn and grow as spiritual brothers. But as I was watching him grow, God began to show me what needed to be done for his next stage of growth.

He needed to take responsibility to disciple the next generation—alone.

Obviously, I still spend time and mentor him through leadership difficulties, and now he is the one leading the small group alone. He is mentoring his classmates and helping them process their own challenges and difficulties without me.

And before long? He will be letting the next generation of disciples take responsibility for their future generations alone (with oversight of course).

Why does this excite me? Because this is the plan of Christ. One generation taking responsibility for the next. One generation passing on the life and teachings of Christ, and watching the next generation be transformed for the better.

Can you imagine the kinds of families and marriages we would have if people like Jesus mentored the next generation? Or the kinds of business leaders, politicians, teachers, and medical staff we would have if people like Jesus showed them how to lead like Him? Can you  imagine the kind of world we would have if the people of Jesus showed the next generation how to truly love like Him?

This is why seeing the current generations take responsibility for the next excites me so much. We could see a world completely changed just because a few people decided to intentionally mentor and disciple the next.

So.

Only one question remains: 

How will you disciple the next generation today? 

Practical ways to disciple the next generation:

• Take someone out for coffee and get to know their story. Share your story with them. Pray with them. 

• Invite a young family or married couple over for dinner. Listen to their challenges. Listen to their triumphs. Give wisdom. 

• Get involved in the young adult or youth ministry at your church. Serve them. Love them. 

• Live your faith in public (and private of course): Read your bible at a park or coffee shop, pray before you eat your food, talk about Jesus with others. This will attract a fatherless and motherless generation to you. 

• Spend time in prayer for the future generation. Not that God would make them get their act together, but that God would show them their true potential in Him. That with Him our world can be completely transformed. That they were made for so much more than they could possibly imagine. 

*If you have any practical ideas of how to disciple the next generation leave them in the comments below. I’d love to learn and grow from each one of you!*