Times-are-a-changing.  Experts are declaring that the generation gap is gone.

Wikipedia defines the generation gap as “the differences between people of a younger generation and their elders, especially between a child and their parent’s generation.  Although some generational differences have existed throughout history, because of more rapid cultural change during the modern era differences between the two generations increased in comparison to previous times, particularly with respect to such matters as musical tastes, fashion, culture and politics.  …This was coined during the 1960s as the generation gap became so prominent most likely due to the unprecedented size of the young generation during the 1960s which gave it unprecedented power and willingness to rebel against societal norms.”

The world did turn upside down over those years.  Our culture today is reaping the fruit of those years.  So if the generation gap is now being declared as “gone”, is the world turning upside down again?  The right side up again?  Can this really be happening?

“Christianity spreads best not through force but through fascination.”  –Shane Claiborne, Becoming the Answers to Our Prayers

More WF Lifestyle thinking…

The Justice Generation

“The opportunity is ripe for church leaders to guide this generation beyond fits of emotion-driven passion and the inevitable disillusionment that comes as the hard obstacles to bringing justice are encountered.”

Brenda’s article entitled “Growing a Youth Ministry That Looks a Lot Like Your Church” is one of five featured articles in the September/October issue of Group Magazine. Friend and contributor to Wild Frontier, Danette Matty, wrote an article that piggybacks to Brenda’s article.

If you are like me, you cannot wait until those children from children’ church become old enough to enter the youth ministry.  As excited as you are about those future souls you get to teach and influence is probably as nervous as those parents of those children are to watch their children become teens.  Truth is parents are intimidated to become parents of teenagers.  There have been too many parents-of-teenagers jokes, news stories, legendary stories, etc., to feed this fear.  To add to this fear we now live in this crazy, technological, and fast-paced world—a world which their child is way more adept with than they are.  For so many reasons, parents think they have lost what “training up a child” means when their child becomes a teen.  When kids were younger, parent and child could pray together at bedtime, maybe read Bible stories together.  But how do you do this with a teen?  How do you do this with a teen who doesn’t like you in his/her bedroom?   This is the intimidation parents feel.

A paraclete is someone who walks alongside someone.  We’ve got our cleats on to walk alongside you.

As part of our Lenten observations this year, each week (including Easter) a teen is teaching an object lesson to the church. These teens are the recipient of years of children’s sermons, particularly at Advent, so I thought I would create a little holy tension in them by proposing they teach the church family in a way they were recipients of when they were younger.