October 12, 2010
by Peter Tyrrell
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God is forever young. In many ways He’s younger than we are. Only a youth-like, imaginative mind could have invented a long-tailed rabbit on steroids and called it a kangaroo. And no stodgy old person would have ever thought up a wallaby or crocodile or koala or numbat (that’s an anteater for those of you who don’t live in my fair country of Australia). Yet, our young, creative, and inventive God made all these and more.
I was thinking about this truth—not about the unusual creatures that inhabit Australia but about the youthfulness of the Ancient of Days—as I reviewed a survey that Insight for Living Australia recently conducted. Poring over the statistics, one question loomed large in my mind: how does the Lord wish to use the ministry in Australia to make a unique contribution to building His kingdom? The numbers revealed part of the answer: we must reach the younger generations for Christ.
Our survey uncovered the wonderful job we are doing with the over-50 age group. But it also uncovered a lack of imagination in reaching those under 50. Only 9 percent of people 35 years old and younger listen to the broadcast, and only 2 percent of age 25 and under listen. My concern? That younger people are increasingly becoming biblically illiterate. They don’t know the wisdom that the Bible can provide as they make decisions about relationships, careers, or even politics.
If we look carefully in Scripture, God is forever reaching out to new generations. He’s been doing so since the beginning of human history, and He has not ceased. The challenge is, how do we reach this younger generation with God’s forever-relevant gospel message? We know we don’t need to make the message of the Bible relevant, but we do need to make our method of communicating that message contemporary and culturally relevant.
The importance of this need came to me while having a conversation with one of my daughters. She is in her 20s, and we were talking about the importance of e-mail and the Internet in reaching her generation. She told me she rarely uses e-mail and doesn’t sit down at a computer to “surf the net.” Her generation, she said, is mobile and wants to receive information on their mobile phones or MP3 players.
How, then, can Insight for Living Australia reach my daughter’s generation with the Word of God without compromising the needs of the majority of our listeners? We’ve developed a plan, and we’re trusting the Lord to use it in reaching the youth of Australia, New Zealand, and the islands of the South Pacific. The plan is based on five pillars.
- First, we’ll continue to care for those who see themselves as family members of the Insight for Living ministry, regardless of age.
- Second, we’ll support and mentor those who teach and share God’s Word, laypersons or ordained clergy, whether they share with individuals on the street or teach groups in a church.
- Third, we’ll develop locally a wide range of Bible studies and topical resources to reach young people and strengthen their walk with Christ.
- Fourth, we’ll equip our listeners with a vast number of study resources produced from the United States office of Insight for Living, such as Bible Companions and Learn Online courses.
- And fifth, we’ll continue to proclaim the Word of God using a variety of media outlets—radio, print, Internet, MP3s, Facebook, Twitter, and any available new media formats.
As we pursue these five goals, we seek to keep this in mind:
Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts. (Psalm 145:3–4)
We at Insight for Living Australia have embraced this truth. We desire to proclaim God’s mighty acts as we reach out to the younger generation with the forever-relevant message of our forever-young God.