As those of you who are regular readers of the Legacy Letter are aware, God has been working in my heart to redefine what Legacy is all about and our place in the kingdom. As I closed last month, I have really been impressed with an urgency for fighting the battle for the gospel, particularly in regards to passing down the faith, once delivered to the saints, to the next generation.
Part of what that means is that God has given me a desire to speak with a loud voice into the chasm of student ministry. There is a growing understanding that the way we have done student ministry for the past generation has failed. Our students are dropping out of church at an alarming rate and those who remain largely have no grasp of the gospel and its implications for their lives. As a result of this realization, there is a movement towards redefining student ministry. One group understands the need for more intentional teaching, and discipleship.
Unfortunately, there is a larger and opposite group that seems to think a more enthusiastic and creative entertainment and event based ministry model will be more successful. This is promoted, as you might expect, by the relevant and emerging church movements, as well as by popular evangelicalism. However, this is just more of the same model that has failed us for over a generation.
That is why we must speak, and why now is the time. In order for Legacy to have a voice of eternal consequence, we must make some changes and move ahead. My heart is for the church and my greatest desire is to see it become what God instituted it to be. It is that heart for the church that has led us to a new partnership in ministry with Bush Memorial Baptist Church, our home church here in Troy.
The leadership at Bush believes so much in our ministry that they have created a Discipleship and Education staff position that will allow me to both serve the church by implementing a Legacy discipleship and leadership development model, as well as lead Legacy from a church ministry platform.
That church ministry platform will allow Legacy to be more focused on our central callings:
To be a voice for the Strategic Youth and Family Ministry model.
To focus on leading Student Minister/Worker Conferences and teaching biblical principles and models to youth leaders.
Continuing to do ministry evaluations, volunteer workshops, parent seminars, and Lead events, as necessary to promote and teach biblical ministry principles.
We are working to create a new network of partner churches, and to put together conferences, with a focus on talking to leaders about the urgency we fell for discipleing students and engaging parents in the process. We also know we must continue to do a better job communicating with donors and support churches about the direction Legacy is taking. It will take a great deal of ongoing support to make this re-focusing of Legacy a long-term success.
Our goal is to double our monthly pledges and the number of support churches in 2008 and we are working to raise $4,000 in one –time donations by the end of 2007. We understand this is going to be a difficult task. However we are trusting God, because He has given me such an urgency, I am compelled to do whatever it takes and He has shown me that it is a blessing and an honor to involve other people in the vision he has given me and providing them with an opportunity to join in the work He desires to do through Legacy.
I believe God has put it on my heart to be an aggressive voice for His purposes to the next generation. As a result, I need to be surrounded by people who share that vision. Thank you for sharing that vision and I pray God give you an urgency for the spiritual lives of your children and grandchildren, and for the work of Legacy Ministries.
No comments:
Post a Comment