Help! My Millennial Child/Grandchild Is ‘Down’ On Christianity

Ivan and Heather  with
Rev. Rufus Smith at Hope Church
November 1, 201

The Power Of Story told while displaying an example of a faithful life, with the goal of introducing Jesus to the unsaved.

Generations questioning God’s Authority through:
• Good Himself
• ‎the Bible, and
• ‎the Lord’s Elders

Exodus 32:1
The Golden Calf
​ When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

1Sa 8:4 — 1Sa 8:5
Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”

Jn 1:9 — Jn 1:11
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

The unchurched and unaffiliated in Jesus give authority to:
• celebrities
• friends
• ‎anyone who will tell their story!

Post modernism is where anything goes…
• relative truth
• ‎Biblical illiteracy
• ‎Zero commitment (to Holiness, God’s Authority)

1 Corinthians 1:26
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.

Apostle Paul reached others by telling his story.

• Acts 22
• ‎Galatians 1

The power of story
• Shows real person
• Shows faith in action
• Gives you credibility

Prep your story:
• Follow cultural narratives
• Fortify your faith
• Live out loud

Earn their story:
• Ask questions
• Be cool
• Get comfortable

1Co 2:7 — 1Co 2:9
But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”

Resources
God Space by Doug Pollock
Reaching Out by Henri Nouwen
It’s Not Too Late by Dan Dupee
Good Faith by the Barna Group