What Really Works

August 23, 2024

So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Galatians 6:9 NLT

It seems a bazillion books have been written, podcasts and conferences shared, on how to reach and win the next generation. We try programs and games and curriculum and every new idea that comes down the pike with varying degrees of “success.” But true success, eternal results, can’t be measured by attendance at youth groups or camps or spectacular events. All of those things can help plant seeds and interest, of course, but nothing is more common than stories of the kid who did it all – even went to Christian school! – and ended up rejecting the faith.

What works in our day and age? The same thing that has always worked. It’s God’s plan for working with all of His children. Years ago I attended a Leadership Summit where a speaker gave us a formula something like this. Over years and time, I have shaped it a bit to enable me to explain it more clearly.

                                        TRUTH + GRACE + RELENTLESS

                                ____________________________________ = HOPE

                                                                  TIME

Culture, gadgets, music, fashion trends all fluctuate. They come and go. Our hopes for faith to grow in the next generation will always yield less than we need. But God’s way is full of hope and transformation if we will stay steady. We live and share God’s TRUTH. We focus on the truth that is Jesus and everything gets filtered through Him. Rules are not the target.

Jesus is. Constant, never-failing GRACE for all the moments they drop the ball and are less than. They need to know that neither God nor you expect perfection. Don’t punish or control –teach. Acknowledge your own failures and need for grace. Tangible, active, aggressive LOVE that sacrifices, hugs, and keeps believing. Love when it’s easy and spontaneous, and love when it’s a challenge. All of those added together become HOPE AND FAITH.

All of those together over time. Not a semester. Not a year. Hours and hours. Infinite hours through months and years. Over time it wins. Hope and faith will spring up in them when they most need it. They will find that your faith in God and in them has given them what they need to have a faith of their own.

  • You can do it! They need you to do it! The church needs you to do it! Will you do it?