It’s no secret that millennials are an… interesting generation, but i’ve been thinking about it a lot lately (my mind doesn’t seem to stop these days). We’re on the brink of a generational shift, millennials are starting to influence the world now, look at Mark Zuckerberg’s recent speech at Harvard – http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2017/05/mark-zuckerbergs-speech-as-written-for-harvards-class-of-2017/ , this is the type of thing our world can become capable of.
What is concerning though, is how the non-millennial world reacts to this sort of thing, but then again there will always be opposition in the face of change, especially change that has the ability to change the world.
What i want to really talk about is how this generational shift can impact the church. If roles of influence are changing in modern day places, there is almost certainly going to be the same in the church to facilitate a world that loves exploring new things.
The difference between how it works normally as opposed to how it works in the church though, is that in the church, it is all intertwined and flows from one generation to the next.
Let me introduce a concept (that i don’t have a name for yet) in that we enter ‘new worlds’ as new generations become more influential.
The world will not be the same under the millennial generation as it has been as we know it now, so it is as though we are moving into a new skin. Matthew 9:16 says – “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” Don’t you love how the bible will consistently stay relevant? It is universal through generational change.
Our world is simply entering into a new wineskin, and so is the church – it is up to us millennials to facilitate that. Millennials in church have grown up under a leadership that has prepared us for a time like this, it is one of the greatest calls of the church, to prepare the next generation to lead the way.
So what does this new wine skin look like? I wrote this down when i had one of ‘Tom moments’ where i think deeply into something and end up into a trance of deep tangents – The role of a millennial lead church, is not to preach well, or to become obsessed with how church is done.
It is to become obsessed by connecting people into a community. Community connects people, and when people connect, the world changes. It brings around true identity and with that a sense of purpose. If there is anything that millennials need, it is identity and purpose. This is how i believe the church will empower people to pursue the call of God on their life.
You have the community of the church, but then you have inter church communities. You have entrepreneur’s, doctors, youth workers, police officers… You get the picture, community creates change. I believe a millennial community will bring a change in the way we know how the world works.
Ultimately, i really believe in this new wine skin, this is the vision for the church. Equality, in a community that encourages the ability to change the world.
The Joshua Generation 