NEWS

Biblical reflection on Next-Gen ministries

‘To Timothy, my beloved Child:’ (2 Tim 1:2)

As someone who has worked in the ‘Next-Gen’ space of CPC for the past 5 years, I have an opinion which may surprise you. I do not think ‘Young Adults’ is a biblical category. In the Old Testament the most common word for youth is ‘y(e)l(e)d’ which denotes a young boy or child. In the NT we see words for children ‘Paidon/teknon/brephos’ which all denote a young person who has not yet come of age - probably before they go through the rites of passage around the age 12-13 (there is much to learn in an in-depth study of these categories). In broad strokes, a child in God’s covenant community is a child, under their parents until they become an adult who then if they profess faith in Jesus gain full rights in worship, membership of the church and society. Young adulthood (18-30 something) is therefore in my opinion an unbiblical category, one which is informed more by our culture and by marketing strategy than by Scripture.

This may surprise you seeing that CPC places such an emphasis on building up the next generation and may cause you to question why we might have ministries that are seemingly devoted to these ‘young adults’ who are not found in Scripture. Of course, this is not to say we shouldn’t cherish those who are going through this stage of life, nor is it a statement that we should treat all 18 years olds the same as we do 50 year olds! In fact, the joy of CPC is that we have such a blend of generations which allows us to see the kaleidoscope of God’s generations at work. But if these things are not biblically based, then why are we doing these things? This is a question which may help us align our motivations more with what is taught in Scripture.

I would like to posit to us all that there is a biblical category of discipleship within God’s covenant community which empowers us to have ministries that serve this group of disciples. But Scripture describes this group of people by their function rather than their age. God’s covenant community is described in the language of ‘generations’. God’s people are all tasked to pass on God’s covenant faithfulness and truth to the next generation of believers (Gen 22:18, 2 Tim 1:5, Exodus 20:5-6) for the purpose of claiming the promises of God (Joshua 1) and the renewal of covenant faithfulness forgotten by generations prior (2 Kings 22-23). If the role of the older is to pass on the faithfulness to the younger, then the role of the next-gen is to faithfully learn and then lovingly challenge the status quo to be better aligned to God’s Scriptures. Scripture has a strong view on how families and members of the church have a responsibility to pass on God’s covenant promise to the next generation. The purpose of which is not to split the church into young and old (1 Peter 5, 1 Tim 5) but to join all generations together in worship of our Lord Jesus.

Therefore, it may be biblical to have youth and ‘next-gen’ focus on our ministries- for the purpose of strengthening the whole body in time. It is by building each generation upon each other that God’s church rises to the challenges of each era of society and the Kingdom of God grows into its new season (Matthew 13:31-32). In fact, Paul writes to Timothy - whom he loves as his own child - that, ‘let no one despise you because of your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity (1 Tim 4:12). To Paul, the youth of Timothy by no means a barrier to be an example and even in this case, the minister of a Church.

I write this to invite all of the church in considering how we are building up the next generation - whether in your families or in your ministry- and to see that it is a vital part of faithful living, not simply a side ministry. CPC has a renewal generation that is growing and flourishing, let’s all be a part of passing on God’s covenant faithfulness to them.

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