Message Recap
Today was our final sermon in the Love Like Jesus series. Online Campus Associate Pastor Faith Schiller reminded us that through Micah 6:8, we have seen that we need all three postures–do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly–to love like Jesus.
In today’s message, we were asked the question: Who is the church for? Throughout church history, this has been a divisive conversation. As Faith said, whose preferences are going to win out? The older established generation or, the younger untested one? At Willow, we want to follow Jesus’s model, loving like Him; therefore, we have a guiding value of Growing Younger.
This can be challenging to some of us because if we invest in the younger generations, the older might feel left behind. But as we model after Jesus, we must consider His example and the bigger mission He is inviting us to. Pastor Faith led us through some main points:
- Matthew 4:18-22 shows us that Jesus chose the young, average, undereducated, and unremarkable fishermen to carry His mission forward. He spent the majority of His time with these late teen/early 20s youth–a disproportionate about of time, actually. As a church, we too should orient around the young. But this can certainly be challenging.
- Intergenerational relationships marked by empathy are critical to do so. Intergenerational relationships are beneficial to both the young and the older. But it requires empathy: extending understanding when things don’t feel natural to us.
- We must equip and empower young people for load-bearing roles. In Acts 1:8, we see Jesus commissioning the disciples to carry the mission forward. We must follow His example and engage young people to lead today, not just in the future.
Lastly, Pastor Faith challenged us to build the church of the future and not try to rebuild the church of the past. She reminded us that the thrilling days of our past weren’t so sweet because of how we moved the mission forward but because we moved the mission forward. Willow was built on a crazy vision (church in a movie theater was wildly unconventional) of a group of young people who wanted to grow the church young. As we honor those that helped start this church, we must embrace our DNA of equipping and empowering young people to embrace the posture of Jesus and grow young in this season.
