Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself...

In fact, I doubt I could have said it nearly as well.

Sometimes, people are surprised to learn that The Church at Argyle is a member of the Southern Baptist Convention. In many ways, we don't seem to fit the mold of what people think a SBC church should look like. We have often been asked why we don't decide to become non-denominational.

Ed Stetzer is a lot of things- a former pastor, church planter, author, speaker, thinker, and researcher. Among other current hats, he is President of Lifeway Research, a part of Lifeway, the agency of the SBC concerned with curriculum, publishing, etc. Ed writes for Between the Times, the faculty blog of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. In a recent post there, he discussed Why I Am A Southern Baptist..

Pastor Ken and I agree- good reading and excellent reasoning.

An interview with Ed Stetzer...

Ed Stetzer is President of Lifeway Research and a well-respected author and observer of the church scene in North America. This is an interview with him reviewing some of his research findings in a new book, Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them.

This research supports something we see intuitively at The Church at Argyle about 20-somethings

• They are turned off by people or things things that are not genuine
• They highly value close personal ties
• They are spiritually open but skeptical
• They seek cross-generational relationships but resist being dominated or talked down to
• They seek truth but won't take things for granted- they want to explore their beliefs in depth

What does this mean? It means that we can't assume that the disconnection from the church of large numbers of our young people is a "phase" they will grow out of in their 30's and 40's. It means that we need to spend time and energy nurturing relationships with them, to model Christ for them, to earn their attention to the message of the Gospel. It means seeing them as equals, if not as peers, in our lives and communities.

Sometimes the truth hurts...

Listening to a podcast involving Dr. Ed Stetzer about 20-somethings in today's church, I heard something that is both true and disturbing. (Very close paraphrase- may not be an exact quote)

"Most churches, given the choice, will choose their traditions over their children."

I am so glad that my church isn't doing that- or at least not in an overt way. God help us to continue to make decisions based on reaching as many people as possible, most particularly our children, with the Gospel of Jesus. Please God, don't ever let us choose our tradition or our comfort zone over loving the people you put in our sphere of influence.