Craig Groeschel shared on his blog some thoughts on reaching the next generation.
I would love to post these thoughts as my own, but I have to give credit where credit is due.
Tell me what you think?
Rules of Conversation in reaching the next generation:
- Before they listen to you, they want to know if you’re listening to them. If you’ll get to know them, they will listen to you.
- If you’re quick to judge, don’t bother trying to connect.
- It doesn’t matter if you’re cool or relevant. It matters if you bring the real you. Fake is the worst thing you can bring.
- The fifth conversation might be the difference maker. In my “Christian Witness Training” course at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, we were trained to knock on doors, present the gospel, and ask people to pray the sinners’ prayer. While this might occasionally still work, it isn’t a likely path to life change. This generation builds trust slowly. If you don’t plan on having a third, fourth, or fifth conversation, you might not want to spend a lot of time on the first.
- They want to be loved. My most consistent conversations with 20-somethings happens in the gym. After getting to know some young men, I genuinely care for them and believe in them. I try to tell them often, “I’m proud of you… I’m pulling for you… I believe in you… I love you.” They seem hungry for acceptance and affirmation and respond well to sincere Christian love.
The rules are changing, are we, am I willing to reach out a new generation by playing by their rules?
RIGHT ON. Since you are my son. I think it is follows logically and genetically that we would arrive at the same thoughts. One of my first and foremost rules of human interaction is that if you “blow” the first impression thing, don’t worry about it because if you and the relationship are worth anything, you will have 100′s of opportunties to fix the first one. Friendships (relationships) are investments and the first encounter is nothing more than a small downpayment