Long Time, No Post (There’s a Point to this Post…Promise)

I know I haven't posted “My Testimony - Part II” yet, but I plan to this weekend. After that post I'm going to do my best to limit the length of my posts. I read on another blog that blogs should not be super long. I guess I'll do more multi-post blogs if something is important enough to warrant a longer post.

So here’s the point to this post...recently God has really been showing me where he wants me to walk in ministry. He’s really been directing me toward college age ministry. But lately He's been putting it on my heart just how much this age group is neglected. As a church we seem to do well ministering to youth and older adults. We have tried and tested programs that provide the spiritual nourishment those age groups need (I personally think we can always do better in all areas).

But somewhere between high school and "figuring it all out" we lose them. It just can't be that way anymore. We have to stop assuming that the only way to minister to someone is to invite them to church. Then when they don’t show, we chalk it up to, “Oh well, I tried; now it’s on them.” CA adults don’t want to be pushed through church’s doors and into a seat where they become just one of the faces. They just want to know you love them and you care about what they’re going through. They want to know that we’ll (The Church) be there for them no matter what.

I think CA adults (especially those that have grown up in church) are ready to move from the religion to the relationship (props to my buddy Thomas Hogan, we’ve talked about this at length - religion v. relationship). I think that by the time a high school student is ready to graduate, they understand the religion part enough to know there is more to it. They know there is something that is far more satisfying then just sitting in church on Sundays. I think they just want someone to guide them to that place, to walk with them and care about their journey as much as they do. I know that I have ridiculous amounts to learn about “ministry”, but I also know that we can’t afford to fail at this.

Learning,
Bruce