Notes from Columbus: 5/4/2005 Julia Pickerill

Julia Pickerill is a dynamic youth leader. She spoke with authority, while still being totally feminine. It was a terrific combination.

• The church is God's wonderful creation -- we should love it and speak well of it.
  
• New generations are always being birthed into the church.
  
• We need to look at how to bring the kingdom of God to the next generation.
  
• Who is the next generation? It doesn't all have one face.
  
• When we ask ourselves "what am I doing here?
  we can get into despair. Look at Romans 8. We need to get our eyes off of the bondage of decay and realize that thru Jesus we can be liberated.
  
• We ride behind the king. We ride behind Jesus, so we can go anywhere for the sake of the gospel of Jesus.
  
• It's not new -- our ministry is an incarnational ministry. When God wanted to save the world he went to them. What should we do?
  
  
  
  1. Go where they are
     
  2. Get to know who they are. Get to know them as they are.
     
  3. Serve and suffer and sacrifice for them.
     
  4. Tell them about Jesus.
     
  
  
• Look at how the emergent church is thinking. Here are the characteristics of the emergent church:
  
  
  
  • It is responding to postmodernity by evaluating the modern church. We should ask ourselves and evaluate ourselves (rather than evaluating other churches). Avoid a spirit of rebelliousness.
    
  • It evaluates modern Christians. So we should ask ourselves if we really reflect Christ. Don't be prideful or judgmental. Ask about yourself, not others.
    
  • It evaluates modern Christianity. So we need to be careful about what we do.
    
  • Evaluating postmodern culture. Note: he who marries the spirit of the age is sure to be a widow in the next. We need to be relevant to the people we are trying to reach. Ask yourself "what's for us and what's for them?" Make sure they can come in the door and that you are not creating barriers to their feeling at home. Do what brings them to Jesus. Do it, and if it works, do it some more.
    
  
  
• Challenge the young people to research what we can do about helping the emerging church in Africa. For example the AIDS crisis. The Sudan.
  
• Cutting edge form is easy: simply hold church at night, turn down the lights, and turn up the sound. But we need to concentrate on the function, not just the form.
  
• Be willing to go over the cliff, to take the gospel, healing, worship, justice, responsibility, liberation, to the next generation.
  
• Numbers 14 gives advice to older leaders.
  1)Identify new leaders who show courage, faith, whole-heartedness, people who show up.
  2)Identify older people who are relational and can help, or can host.
  
• Numbers 27:18-20 tells us: Release your younger leaders into significant ministry. Speak authority into them.
  
• Deut 8:2 tells us: Train up younger leaders. Tell our story to them.
  
• Deut 3:28 tells us: Encourage and strengthen younger leaders Tell them what their gifts are.
  
• Deut 5:32 tells us: Teach the leaders to obey God's word. Teach them to be God hearers and God obeyers.
  
• To older leaders, do this:
  
  
  
  • Parent the next generation
    
  • Make a place for the next generation
    
  • Don't be afraid of post-modern spirituality
    
  • Practice 'contact work' -- go somewhere that young people work.
    
  • Expect some chaos.
    
  
  
• To younger leaders, do this:
  
  
  
  • Deut 31 do not be afraid. Preach the gospel.
    
  • Deut 34:9 Receive teaching. Be humble.
    
  • Josh 24:15 choose this day who you will serve. Don't follow the idolatry of the culture.
    
  
  
• To everyone dealing with the next generation, choose these three preferences:
  
  
  
  • Choose function over form: are you seeing people being baptised, restored etc?
    
  • Choose Actions over words: Don't get too caught in dialog. Once the action works, then talk about it.
    
  • Choose Christ over cool. Suffering, service, and sacrifice won't fit into cool. We need to throw off everything that hinders us.