Thanks for your exceptional article, “Stained Glass & Starbucks.” It was particularly refreshing for me because of my heritage in youth ministry.

For nearly a decade, youth pastors have been “pressing the envelope,” to encounter a generation who did not grow up in church as did many generations past. Those with whom we have been trying to connect for the last decade are now adults.

Passing the baton to them is requiring that we evaluate all that we do to be as serious about generational missions as we are about geographical missions. Helping the next generation radically connect with God is as present in Scripture as the command to go to all nations. Thank you for the balance to spur traditional and contemporary ministry models to pursue excellence as we preach the greatest message known.

What is slowing our progress in both geographical and generational outreach? The subtle methodology argument between those who are using new methods and those who defend proven methods is at least one of the culprits. It is not that the lost world sees us defending one methodology or the other; it is that the act of defending a method distracts us from the people we are on the planet to reach.

Autonomy is a beautiful thing. Let’s embrace the accountability of challenging every ministry to be biblically authentic while we encourage others who are using different methods to do what they do with excellence.

The beauty of Baptist autonomy from church to church is that every local ministry can be unique as it attempts to connect with the unique community that is its primary ministry field.

Another culprit is the lack of recognition that the Body of Christ is the magnetic attraction that God uses to bring people to Himself. Organized efforts and outstanding sermons are important as we mobilize the people of God to reach those who have not yet followed Christ. Great programming and compelling events are useful tools that catalyze the Body to be a people on mission, but are not enough to get the job done.

The members of the Body, “in the world, but not of it,” building relationships with those who need Christ while creating opportunities to share His love has to become more prominent in the minds and the practice of our people. If the Body believes and lives out their influence, the methodology argument fades into the background behind the noise of water moving in our baptistries. When that happens, both generational and geographic missions will benefit.