Empowering the Next Generation: A Call to Discipleship

Tim VanderZwaag • May 10, 2024

Dear Church Family,

I wanted to express my gratitude for the opportunity I had a couple weeks back to share about our Young Adult ministry. Your prayers and support mean a lot, and I’m incredibly thankful for the encouragement and involvement we’ve already received in nurturing the 18-30 year olds in the RRC family. 

I am praying that God will use the church’s willingness to invest in its future leaders to help foster a close-knit young adult community. By God’s grace, this community will be centered on Jesus, growing in faith, and focused on building and maintaining relationships both intergenerationally and within the age group. 

While we as young adults navigate the challenges and opportunities of this life stage, my prayer is that we will become increasingly equipped not only to love Jesus and be discipled but also to mentor and disciple others. The ultimate goal of our ministry is not just that Jesus would transform one person, but that each person He transforms would be empowered to participate in the Great Commission. Together, we can be conduits of God’s grace, love, and mercy to a world that needs the Good News of Jesus as desperately as ever!

Andrew Zokoe mentioned in an email a few weeks ago that the vision for the youth group ministry is to help students know and follow Jesus. It seems natural then, as our church’s teenagers transition into young adults–eventually starting careers, marrying, or having children–that the focus should shift towards equipping them for ministry in their own spheres of influence. Jesus-followers, empowered and enabled to evangelize and disciple, are needed in any and all spheres of life, from college classrooms to the trades, church offices to corporate boardrooms, or anywhere else God plants His people to be salt and light.

As young adults, we’re navigating what it means to own our faith and live as Jesus-followers in an increasingly hostile world that often opposes our beliefs. We hunger for guidance, discipleship, and preparation for the journey ahead.

The challenges, temptations, and roadblocks young adults face today may differ from those of previous generations, but the enemy behind them remains the same. Within our church community, the older generations possess invaluable wisdom and experience from navigating similar paths. However, if this wisdom isn’t being passed on to the next generations, it remains untapped potential.

So, here’s my question: If God has blessed you with wisdom gained from a life lived in service to Jesus, including both victories and defeats, are you sharing that wisdom with the next generations? If not, is this something you desire and feel called to do? 

Now is the time to equip the next generation. What’s past is unchangeable, and tomorrow isn’t promised to anyone. Today is the day of God’s favor (2 Cor. 6:2). 

If you sense the Holy Spirit nudging you towards investing in Kingdom work but feel uncertain about where to start, this could be your opportunity. For those older than our 18-30 age group, I encourage you to take a moment during our Sunday gathering or flip through the church directory to connect with a young adult. Reach out after the service, send a friendly text, or drop an email. Invite yourself into their world. Engage actively in forming a relationship. Discipleship is more than reciting Bible verses or discussing church; it’s about cultivating a genuine friendship, sharing life’s ups and downs, and passing on the lessons Jesus has taught you to the next generation. Be real, be vulnerable, and allow God’s Spirit to work.

As we honor Mother’s Day and the incredible moms in our own lives this weekend, let’s also remember the powerful influence of two faithful women who nurtured a young man in the fear and knowledge of God and His Word. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, we catch a glimpse of the profound impact of Eunice and Lois, a godly mother and grandmother, on the spiritual development of this emerging leader in the early church (2 Timothy 1:4-5). 

Let’s resolve together, as members of Rockford Reformed Church, to be Lois and Eunice for the young adults among us. Through God’s grace, we can reflect Jesus to the next generation and guide them in growing in reverence and understanding of God.  

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11). 

God bless!

Tim VanderZwaag