Spread the Word
We’re wrapping up the last of our Mississippi camps this week before our new journey in South Carolina begins! I always get so emotional as I watch the students respond at the altars, and I am so grateful that Matt and I had the opportunity to steward the ministry that changed our lives as teens. It was at youth camp for Matt and at youth conference for me that we were both called to ministry when we were teens ourselves. Some of the first interns Matt volunteered with at camps years ago are now leading our kids camps this week. It’s a generational cycle. I know that, in watching these teens—and children now this week—I am watching the next generation of the Church come to life. Statistically, 77% to 83% of Christians give their lives to Jesus before age 18. I have always loved working with young people in the church because of this. There is nothing like seeing the generations behind us carrying the torch of sharing the gospel with others.
Of course, my daily reading plan would more than coincidentally align with my life this week, and as I opened my Bible, I read:
“We will not hide these truths from our children; we will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power and his mighty wonders. For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.” Psalm 78:4-7 NLT
My heart fills with gratitude when I read this. I realize that, in context, you and I are included among “the children not yet born” that the writer is referring to. This precious gospel, with stories from both the Old and New Testaments, was passed all the way down to you and me—while still maintaining its status as the most historically accurate book in all the world over thousands of years.
I think of all the good people in my life who taught me about Jesus—my teachers at church, my pastors, but also my parents, my neighbors, and even complete strangers through acts of kindness. I realize that this has happened over the course of thousands of years—generation after generation after generation—all sharing the good news of the gospel with the people growing up behind them.
I was once a recipient of this good news, and now I get to be the one to share it.
Not all of us are called to work with youth and kids. Not all of us have our own kids, either. Still, for all who follow Jesus, he gives us the command,
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
He’s with us now—“even to the end of the age”—just as much as he was with his very first disciples then. He wants us to share the good news—all of us—with everyone we have the opportunity to share it with.
Not everyone follows Jesus before the age of 18, and it’s still incredibly important to reach adults too. When you share the gospel with adults, this also impacts generations, often changing the trajectory of their entire families. Whoever we share the gospel with, it can impact lives far beyond our lifetime.
Who in your life do you have the opportunity to share the gospel with? Has God done something great in your life? How can you share this good news with the people in your everyday life?
