Why we need the Next Generation

“I don’t need you?”

At the fourth Lausanne Congress, this phrase was highlighted as the most dangerous sentence in the church.

With our vision to encourage the whole church to take the whole gospel to the world, are we guilty of telling the next generation, we don’t need you?

In her presentation at the Congress, Professor Denise Margaret Thompson, highlighted that Gen Z have now taken over from millennials as the largest single generation alive today, making up approximately 32 percent of the global population. She postulates that we cannot fulfil the Great Commission in our lifetime, if we do not engage, equip and commission them. In truth, we do need the next generation, not just as a generation to be reached but also as a generation to be collaborated with, to fulfil God’s mission.

The listening exercise conducted within the Network last year shone a clear light on this and it is now a critical focus for us at Global Connections and MAP for 2025. Whether it is engaging with them, equipping or commissioning them for God’s mission, we must ensure that our actions let them know, they are needed to fulfil God’s mission.

We will be exploring this topic more as part of our Lausanne Accelerate Online Events. I encourage you to join myself and two friends I made at the Lausanne Congress, to discuss some of the issues surrounding engaging, equipping and commissioning the next generation. Sam Couper works as field coordinator for Revive Europe and Arne Tielburger works as the content strategist for Lausanne. Together we will be discussing this topic on 26^th of March at 12pm on Zoom. Please sign up now to join us.

We are also celebrating our network members who exist solely to engage, disciple and commission the next generation, there is much we can learn from the work that’s already being done. However, we recognise there is more to be done and this we believe is a priority for the whole church. In conversation with church leaders and mission agencies the next generation is a priority. This is also a priority for the younger generation too. They want to see the church be more effective in God’s mission, they want to see their generation saved, they want revival, they want to collaborate, they want authentic Christianity, they want to engage with the declaration and demonstration of the gospel. They want intergeneration unity and racial unity. They want to engage with social justice and want to use technology to amplify the gospel.

Over the next couple of months, we will be praying especially for the next generation as one of the standing prayer points during our monthly Network Prayer meetings. Please consider signing up to the mailing list to get an invitation and join us.

We will also be creating learning opportunities for the network and friends of the network to engage with issues relating to this topic. We want to use this opportunity to invite you to share resources and good practices with us regarding the next generation. This is an issue that affects diaspora churches as well as the white majority church and provides us with an opportunity for humility, repentance, and co-learning. Please send any relevant resources that have helped you or questions you have around the next generation to Wonu at wadefala@globalconnections.org.uk.