When Jesus comes back, one of His first acts will be to take down the walls that have been built between believers based on church doctrine and tradition. Augustine said, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity.” I agree with him. To me, Satan has executed a “divide and conquer” strategy to near perfection, leading us to create and perpetuate weak churches, sometimes located a few hundred feet from each other, split apart over how a pastor preaches, how communion is served or the chosen method of baptism.
You guys are the future of the church. No kidding. You will determine the trajectory of the church into the next generation.
So, first and foremost, it’s up to us to point others toward a commitment to a church. Committing to church is much more difficult for this generation than for ours. Busier schedules, live video streaming, fears of poor childcare and constant transfer of cold germs keep thousands of church goers home every week. I tell the guys I mentor, “Pick the best local church you can find and commit to it. None are perfect. All will disappoint in some way. But make a decision and get involved. Don’t just participate.”
Participation, without involvement, breeds cynicism.
People who just participate in church without being involved become cynical and critical of the church. Sometimes, the cynicism will come from a spouse, which makes it doubly hard to lead the family to an “all in” commitment to a local church. It is so easy to criticize the church staff, the volunteers who teach and take care of children, the music, the way money is spent, or the seemingly constant pleading to give more. You must lead your families through this malaise.
Your kids will have little motivation to commit to church when they grow up if they don’t see their dads live out that commitment as they grow up. What a dad pursues with fervor, his kids will pursue in moderation. What a dad pursues with moderation, his kids will ignore.
I encourage my mentoring group guys to be as objective as they can be about picking a church. Avoid deciding on a church, because it’s the "cool place" to go, or because it’s the most convenient, or because it’s the church where all the power people go. Instead, look at the church’s focus on making disciples, particularly for kids. I want a church where kids are loved on and taught, not just tended to and baby-sat. Is the church more about going deep and sanctifying the body of Christ each week or is it open and intentional about bringing outsiders into a relationship with God? Look at how active the church is in “caring for the least of these.” Is there active effort in terms of compassion? Are there opportunities for you and your family to get involved in helping people in the name of Jesus?
One final note.
Empower others to change churches if they need to do so. Maybe they're at a dead-end or they feel the churches is at one with no hope of changing the culture. Help those people muster the courage to move on. We have too many people hiding behind superficial commitments to irrelevant churches. Push them to find a church they can believe in, to lead their families to committed involvement, and never look back.
