Have been so busy with end of school year activities and wind up and juggling with all the kids being back home. So scrolling through Facebook, I found this post. It will well and truly keep you busy reading and reflecting on our current generation and its relationship to institutionalised church.
I am very grateful for the way Frank Powell has described the generation and the problem with church life today in many churches. In a nutshell, his description fits our current situation and why we have to do something about it. I'm going to translate it to try and spur on the necessary changes. I'm also part of a team in our Union of churches who are going to accompany the Vitality Pathway (from Grace Covenant Churches in USA) adapted to our French context. It's a bit of the unknown and an exciting move. I just pray our own church will agree to go down that road.
Anyway, here's the link: think of us as you read it and PLEASE PRAY!
http://frankmatthewpowell.com/ten-reasons-church-absent-millennials/
Millenium generation
A heart for france
About Us
God's ways are mysterious, but I must say that since my commitment to follow Jesus Christ in 1985 life with God has been one big adventure. While teaching in a small town in Western Victoria in Australia I felt called to look into mission, to understand what it meant and if it was still relevant on the 20th Century. In 1989/90 I went to Niamey, the capital of Niger in French West Africa, for a Short Term Service as a French teacher at Sahel Academy, a school for missionary kids. This was a life changing experience, because I realized two things: I really wanted to study the Bible full time and I needed to improve my French! Solution: do a 3 year Theology Diploma in an Evangelical French College in the Paris region. The Lord led the way and not only did I realize how much Christian workers were needed in France but the Lord organized for me to stay in France permanently - yes! I met my French husband Pascal, at Bible College. Together we have three wonderful children. Pascal is now pastor in a French Evangelical Church Union and I am a supported missionary working alongside him.
What are we doing?
My ACE ministry consists of;
A=Accompanying (counselling, discipline),
C=Coordinating (particularly the Vitality Pathway, revitalizing
churches), and
E=Evangelism to bring more into the Kingdom.
My ministry is recognized by the Union of Free Evangelical Churches in France with whom my husband serves as pastor. I coordinate a national team seeking to create healthy, missional churches. Ministry involves equipping the local church to reach its community by: discipline, mentoring, counselling and training others; organizing events and coordinating children and youth ministries and particularly reaching out to women.