Okay. I admit it. I have reached that frightening no man's land called middle age ... or as my kids call it, "the over-the-hill gang."
My generation was raised and nurtured on a healthy dose of Saturday mornings filled with Roy Rogers, The Lone Ranger, My Friend Flicka, Fury and Sky King. Family life was depicted on television shows such as Donna Reed, Father Knows Best and Ozzie and Harriet. I Love Lucy, Danny Thomas and Dick Van Dyke brought humorous insights to family life, but still centered around healthy, intact family life.
And now I've reached the age of 48--only two years from what my own kids tell me is ancient. But in spite of these facts, I find one thing consistent in my life. I still love kids. I believe there is a great opportunity for adults to share Christ across generational lines with young people.
I'll share a few insights I've found helpful in communicating Christ to what my friend Tom Rainer calls the Bridger generation (those 72 million born between 1977 and 1994). Some of these may be your own children, grandchildren, young people at church and neighborhood kids.
First, understand that the Bridger generation is open and interested in spiritual things. Note that I did not say strictly "Christian things." The Bridger generation has been raised in a culture that believes in almost any expression of a Supreme Being or higher power. In addition, they have learned by watching the folks around them to resist any claims of one faith system as being the "only way." Yet they are open spiritually.
Second, understand the culture in which they are maturing. Our society is postmodern with these beliefs:
No ultimate purpose in life.
No absolutes.
No single, omnipotent and supreme deity who guides life.
There is little value in focusing on and preparing for the future, so live the moment to its fullest.
The biblically illiterate culture in which your kids are growing up finds more than 81 percent of people interviewed (George Barna) saying that the most well-known verse in the Bible is, "God helps those who help themselves!" The last time I checked, Aesop had no books in the Bible. In addition, Bridgers hear diversity and tolerance promoted not as a political ideology, but as a maxim of reality that allows no one to stand on absolute claims.
Third, be aware that the number-one reality for which kids are looking is to know they are loved. Fewer than half of the Bridgers spend their childhood with both biological parents. They live in the generation with the most abortions in the history of the world. As you pray about sharing Christ with a young person, make sure your driving motivation is love for kids, for if it's not there, and your approach is based on duty alone, they will smell it a mile away.
Your love for kids will also keep you from talking down to them. One thing kids hate is adults coming across like they are experts. They want to be treated as intelligent, thinking people.
The Bridger generation is also called the Audio-Visual Age. Kids are into movies, television, computers and music. Be alert to what they are watching and listening. Adults should be familiar with performing artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys, Brooks and Dunn, the Dixie Chicks, Garth Brooks and Shania Twain. If you are talking to a young person who likes Garth Brooks, refer to his hit song Brand New Man and ask what he or she thinks it takes to create a brand new man. Within moments you can be exploring the gospel together.
You should also be aware of what teenagers are watching. Hit shows are Dawson's Creek, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Friends, Seventh Heaven and Felicity. I regularly watch a couple of these shows to have them in my mind as launching pads for sharing Christ when I'm with kids-even if the example I use from the program is taken from the perspective of people making wrong decisions. Kids need to know that you care enough to be aware of what's important to them.
Fourth, expect God to do significant things when He opens the opportunity for you to share with a young person. After all, He's got a pretty good track record of doing just that--Joseph, Samuel, David, Jeremiah, the boy with the fishes and the loaves. What a wonderful opportunity we have to impact the next millennium by prayerfully stepping out on mission and sharing Christ across generational lines!
Bob Reccord is president of the North American Mission Board, SBC.