The old saying goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

Life experience teaches us that this statement is painfully true. As a young leader I am motivated by that statement to lead the church of Jesus Christ in such a way that this statement can’t be said of the church of North America.

I have spent a lot of time in recent days studying and talking about the current condition of the church and how over 3,000 churches die in America every year. I have pointed to two things as the main contributors to the death of the church: (1) the average age of the membership in most mainline denominations is over sixty and within the next decade 50% of their denomination will pass away; (2) that 70%-80% of the kids who grow up in our churches walk away from the church upon graduation from high school.

The reality is we only have the power to address one of those issues. We cannot turn back the hands of time, but we can and should do everything possible to ensure that the next generation remains an integral part of the church. This will not happen unless we are showing them and including them in a vibrant and life-giving faith.

Over the past couple of weeks I have shared some of the ways in which we have failed as a church in America. Confessing those failures has been healthy for us as a church as we have admitted…

• We must confess that at times we have let our rules get in the way of God’s love.
• We must confess that at times we’ve failed to recognize that there are absolutes that God requires of us.
• We must confess that at times we have thought that what belongs to us is more important than who we belong to.

You can listen to those messages online, but I want to encourage you to join us this Sunday for the third and final message in this series that will give us a vision for how we move forward as a church for ALL generations. Many of the statistics we look at today are not encouraging, but I think there is HOPE! Remember, we serve a risen savior who lives to redeem and restore. I believe that He can redeem and restore the church in America today.

-Pastor Brandin