Generation to Generation

One generation will commend your works to another.       Psalm 145:4

Please note that this weekend while we host the All Church Family Camp at Mission Springs, we will gather at PCC on Sunday at 8:55am and 5:00pm only.  There is no 10:30am worship gathering this Sunday.

Intergenerational was God’s idea long before it was ours.  Craig Groeschel, a nationally known author, speaker and pastor of the largest Covenant church in the country, LifeChurch, was speaking recently at a conference for next generation leaders, on the topic of “generational resentment.”  PCC’s Young Adult Pastor Tony Gapastione alerted me to the talk, thinking it would be relevant to PCC. He was right.

In the talk, Groeschel first addressed the older generation.  He acknowledged, as we all can, "Everything that I am able to do to make a difference for the glory of God and for the name of the risen son Jesus is the result of those who went before me and invested in me." Groeschel implored the older generation of Christians to believe in the younger generation and set aside "a whole lot of resentment and misunderstanding."  He then encouraged the older generation in the audience to "hear this as if it is from God: If you are not dead, you are not done. Your best days of ministry can be right now as you invest and give the ministry away to the next generation."

To the younger generation, whom Groeschel called “the most cause-driven, mission-minded generation perhaps of all time” (I agree!) he admonished, “You really need those who go before you. You desperately need them. They can be the greatest assets in your ministry, in your life, and in your marriage. A dishonoring younger generation is limiting what the whole church of Jesus Christ could do and it’s time that we show honor. Honor builds up. Dishonor tears down. Honor believes the best. Dishonor believes the worst."

As we embark in stewarding the seventh decade of PCC history, let me lay out two truths that are non- negotiable:

1.     It is not negotiable whether or not we will be intergenerational.  We will be!  In the coming months, we will be communicating what this is and why it matters so much.

2.     It is not negotiable whether or not we will leverage our intergenerational unity to achieve our God-given mission and vision.  We will!  Being intergenerational is not the goal, but the means with which we will best live into our calling and steward the mission of PCC.

Pray with me that God gives us grace to get it, and that we boldly move out as an intergenerational force into the world Jesus gave His life for.  Agree with me regarding these non-negotiable axioms and I dare you, I double-dog dare you to cross a PCC generational barrier this week and take the initiative with someone older or younger than you.  This Sunday, the All Church Retreat provides the perfect opportunity for you to go for it. 

I love being your pastor!