AMAZE THEM WITH GOD
Winning the Next Generation for Christ
By Kevin DeYoung
10 Publishing. 38 pages. £2.99
ISBN 978 1 910 587 546
This short book is a clever way of making available a self-contained chapter from a previously published collection, by various contributors, looking at the most essential and basic issues of faith and evangelicalism.
Now set loose and circulating solo, this work has surely been opened up to a wider readership, with its length lending itself well to actually being read.
Good for any age
DeYoung here addresses how we can best go about raising up the next generation of Christians. While the focus is firstly on children and youth, what he prescribes has equal potency in reaching people of any age. There is a beautiful simplicity to what DeYoung commends: he calls us away from attuning ourselves to an ever-changing culture by recalling us to the never-changing basics of a life attuned to Christ.
The premise turns on five suggestions. If we are passionate about our faith, overflow with love for others, display a concern for personal holiness, continue to preach the whole truth, and make much of our God, then the next generation will be reached. We cannot but be fruitful, as and where the Spirit blows.
Much more could be said on each of DeYoung’s suggestions. But no more needs to be said for us to be left with ample challenge and encouragement. The take-home message for ourselves and for our churches is: be intentional in your walk with Jesus even as you are intentional in your walk with others, only more so; then you will get to see Jesus winning those others to himself.
