One of the things that makes us powerful as followers of Jesus is in his tribe we always keep our hearts open to the new person God brings in. In his tribe we always understand that God is touching the fringes and bringing the edges into the center to do something we could’ve never imagined before. And what you have to love about this moment is that it’s a wonderful reminder that we don’t have to know everything. We can even get things wrong. And God has an amazing way to work when our hearts are postured right toward him.

The next generation is being called to be on an adventure, on an exploration, on a quest. It’s going to take a new level of faith, a new level of trust, a new vision, and new courage. And I think they are more excited than we imagine. They are hungry and waiting for us to authentically unwrap the Scriptures in a way that speaks to them honestly about the moment they are in. I am so hopeful because maybe, for the first time in a long time, the next generation is looking a lot like Acts chapter 1.

Where are they running?

We often hear leaders present the perspective that the next generation is running from God because they’re running away from the Scriptures.

I think the exact opposite is happening. They’re trying to run to truth and authenticity, and so in their mind they’re running from the Scriptures. They see the Bible as something that was inherently responsible for the 1950s and that the Bible moved society toward compliance and conformity, toward standardization; in that sense, toward a utilitarian culture where the human spirit was ignored and deadened. And so there’s rebellion against the Scriptures, but it’s a rebellion for all the right reasons.

If we can help them to see that the Bible didn’t create this monotonous culture of the ‘50s where people pretended to be affected by God but actually lived very hollow lives, if we can help them see the Scriptures as being a manifesto of freedom and liberation, that its sacred text unlocks the uniqueness of the human spirit, that it helps us discover what it means to be truly human, they would not rebel. And so in some sense we’re not changing people’s minds about what they’re running from, we’re changing their minds about what they’re running to.

So look, if you run from something that’s false, but you think that’s God, you’re actually running for the right reasons. We need to turn the tables around and say, “You thought you were running from the Scriptures, you thought you were running from God, you thought you were running from Jesus, but actually you’re running from the very things that God wanted you to run from. You need to see that what you’re running to when you’re searching for what’s authentic, what’s real, what’s trustworthy is actually the Scriptures and God and Christ.”

The next generation may have been running from God for all the right reasons. It is crucial to unwrap the Scriptures so they can see who God really is. Today, it’s time to help them to stop running and come home.

It is not simply a matter of statistics about millennials not being interested in the Bible. The next generation hungers for the Scriptures even though they may not know it. The story that we find ourselves in is brighter than we imagined. We need to be bold enough to unfold the Scriptures in a way that speaks to our human condition and story.