Follow-up Archive

January 19, 2005

Sharing the Faith with Young Adults by Joe Burnham

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Subtly tucked away between the Samaritan woman running from the well to the town and the townspeople coming to meet this man who knew everything about her, Jesus teaches his disciples about the importance of sowing and reaping (John 4:31-38). Jesus points to the ministry that has already happened, the "gathering fruit for eternal life," and declares that in this the "sower and reaper may rejoice together."

Everybody loves to reap, it's in reaping that we see the results . it's in reaping that we get to celebrate success . reaping is followed by the banquet. On the other hand, sowing isn't very exciting . when sowing ends, all you see is dirt.

We all love to reap, but nobody likes to sow . however, if there is no sower, there is nothing to reap. Jesus makes it clear to the disciples that all of their reaping is the conclusion of the work that others began: "I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor" and again, "others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

The disciples were reaping the fruit sown when God promised Eve her offspring would crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15) . when God promised Abraham that the nations would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3) . when God promised David his seed would rule Israel forever (2 Samuel 7:16) . when God promised through Isaiah that the Messiah was coming. The whole history of the Old Testament is looking, with anticipation, for the Messiah so the disciples were gathering fruit from a field that was ripe for the harvest . a field with fruit waiting to be picked . a culture that was eagerly anticipating a Messiah, even if they didn't know exactly what that Messiah looked like.

That society stands in stark contrast to young adult culture today where most people see no need for a Messiah at all. LHM's recent survey reveals that 80.3% of unchurched¹ 25- to 29-year-olds deny that all people are sinful-a number that flows directly out of 79.5% saying that there is no absolute truth. This worldview declares that they can't know right and wrong, making it, in their mind, impossible to define something as wrong (aka sinful). In contrast, our Law-Gospel message is based on the biblical (and correct) worldview that knows not only that there is a right and wrong, but also that all people have done wrong. This worldview clash creates a unique challenge in sharing the Gospel with young adults. To increase the challenge, these unchurched young adults are quasi-familiar with the church as almost 78% of them were raised in a home that described itself as Christian (49% claim the description today) and 15.1% of them have concluded that they do not trust organized religion (the highest percent of any age group).

The challenge is, "How do you reach out to a group of people who disagree with your basic assumptions and think they know your message . which they have already decided is wrong?" The answer . it's time to sow trusting that God will send someone to harvest (maybe sooner rather than later).

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