We need to make difference in society
now if future generations are to know Christ




For thousands of years we have been standing on the promises God makes to the people of God. These promises have been mediated to us through our forefathers and fore-mothers in the faith, including priests and prophets, kings and common folks, saints and martyrs, gospel writers and letter writers. For followers of Jesus Christ, these promises have been mediated more particularly through his life and ministry, his death and resurrection.
For thousands of years we have trusted the eternal promises of God, and that trust has shaped the lives of those who believe in God and who follow Jesus Christ.
But what if a time came when nobody knew what promises God makes? What if a time came when the only thing mediated through Jesus Christ was the release of anger through exclaiming his name in vain?
At the Bishop’s Convocation this spring, we heard many important statistics that affect the future of our nation and our annual conference. But the numbers that have stuck with me are these: 80-50-30-10. I recite them to myself frequently, and I am going to sound like a broken record in the district as I repeat them whenever and wherever to bring attention to our
responsibility for the future.
Eighty percent of my parents’ generation was churched. That’s the World War II generation, which is getting pretty scarce now.
Fifty percent of my generation, the Baby Boomers, are churched.
Thirty percent of our children’s generation, the 20s and 30s, are churched.
Ten percent of my grandchildren’s generation will be churched.
European countries experienced the results of these statistics long ago. I pastored in a British Methodist circuit in the early ‘80s, when 5 percent of the English people were churched. (Now that statistic is cut in half.)
Churches stood mostly empty as historical monuments or fell to the ground in disrepair. Biblical characters or references meant nothing in the culture at large. The call to live trusting in the eternal promises of God seemed nonsensical to the
majority of the population.
In our district, we can waste a lot of time pointing our fingers at the Big Bad UMC or the bad old annual conference and say the future comes from the past in which we weren’t resourced properly. We can cry out about ineffective pastors or lay leaders. We can claim that it’s really not our fault.
But the truth is that now is the time to make a difference for the future, and we are the ones called to do so. It really does matters what you and I are willing to sacrifice from our lives here and now for the sake of a future in which others know and trust God’s eternal promises and follow Jesus Christ.
Thirty-10 really scares me. I don’t want my children and grandchildren to live out their lives in that world. Do you?
Christ, have mercy upon us.