Passing Your Faith to the Next Generation

Dannah Gresh: If you’ve ever been to a track meet, you know how it goes . . .

The runners line up and take their marks. A hush comes over the crowd. Sometimes light refracting through the air makes the track look like it’s shimmering in the heat. Then . . .

[Sound of a gunshot]

The race starts. The first runner on each team carries an aluminum tube. It’s the 4 X 400 relay. Key moments happen each time they pass the baton on to the next person. And they know this: races can be won or lost depending on how well that transition happens.

Welcome to Revive Our Hearts Weekend. I’m your host, Dannah Gresh. You can probably guess what a relay race has to do with faith and future generations. That’s what we’ll talk about today.

Today we’ll hear from Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth on the idea of passing on that baton of faith. I’m very excited about this: a member of the “next generation” is here to lend voice to this topic, too! Gabrielle McCullough has a passion for seeing her own generation follow hard after Jesus. 

But first, do you mind if I change the metaphor for a moment? We’ve been talking about relay races. Well, here’s another analogy.

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Let’s talk about roots! To do that, I want to take you to the wide open space of central Utah where you can see the world’s largest living organism! A tree so big it has a name: Pando. It's also known as the Trembling Giant. It looks like an entire forest of trees. But genetic markers have been identified in each tree trunk proving that they share one massive underground root system. The plant spreads across 106 acres and is thought to weigh 6,600 tons—that’s about thirty-three blue whales!

And here’s something about this tree that I find especially interesting: it has survived frequent forest fires because of its deep, wide-spreading roots. When fires rage through Pando, its root system is protected from the heat. The underground life source of the organism thrives and eventually sends new seedlings up into the fertile soil the fire leaves behind.

By contrast, conifers, which also grow in that area, have shallow root systems. When a fire comes through, it consumes these trees entirely.

Roots are powerful things.

Let’s consider that as I attempt to prodigal proof your child . . . which for the record . . . SPOILER ALERT . . . cannot actually be done! Adam and Eve sure prove that, don’t they?

But what’s our responsibility as parents as we gaze into a rising tide of prodigals on planet Earth? For about ten years, we’ve been witnessing a mass exodus of young adults from the Church. And it’s gotten worse.

I want to ask, "Are the roots of your child, your grandchildren being adequately nurtured?"

Could you consider that as I read a parable that Jesus told when He walked the earth. This is Mark chapter 4:1–9.

“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (ESV)

I believe we’re seeing this parable unfold before us in the way it affects our children.

First, the birds of prey are eating the seed. Jesus said that’s the devil, trying to snatch away the seed before it has a chance to take root. That's happening in our children today.

Second, the rocky road of life is resulting in wilted shoots that never have a chance to grow. Again, that's going on in our children. Then, the thorns are choking out the faith of our children.

Some scholars say that the rocks and thorns could represent difficult times. Well, we've been living through what could surely be characterized as national, if not globally, difficult times. I imagine you also have a few hard things going on in your personal life. Well, these difficult times reveal something: a lack of roots in the belief system of our children.

What will we do about it?

Here’s the deal. All of us, though we are image bearers of God, are born with rock-hard hearts. The soil of your sweet child’s heart has a crust on it. And it’s not until the Holy Spirit’s plow breaks up that hardness that God’s Word can get in there and sprout and grow so deep roots can grow.

On top of that, sometimes our children’s hearts are made even harder because the world they live in is either toxic or inauthentic. You might think of this as the parents who drop their kids off at church or the CHREASTERS—those who go to church for Christmas and Easter. I suspect that’s not you!

So pray and ask God to gently soften your child’s heart. Pray for spiritual protection, so that the enemy can’t snatch away the seed of God’s Word before it sprouts, and then work hard to do all you can to keep your child’s heart soft. Laugh with them. Play with them. Enjoying your Bible time. Worship freely and happily. These things keep the soil soft and loose. Give your children a love for the Word of God, the Body of Christ, and Jesus Himself.

The next part of the passage might apply more to you. It says, "some fell onto gravel with no top soil." Those seeds pop right up and look like they’re growing, but the roots don’t actually get very deep. This might be where we should pay attention. It could represent the parents who do all the right things to plant seeds, but how deep is the soil? Many of us as parents,are careful to plant the seeds.

• We take them to church.
• We send them to AWANA.
• We have family devos.
• We check off the “to-do” list of planting truth in our children.

But do we tend to the roots? Let’s ask ourselves, “Are we being intentional to not just plant but to nurture truth?” Not busy-lessons, not rote-material, not intentional Christiany-performances. I’m talking about something that goes beyond the surface and overtakes the deepest parts of your child’s heart. It’s more than controlling and conforming behavior to what we think is right. It’s nurturing something deep within them that so that they know what is right according to God’s Word.

These are three warnings from the parable of the sower about the seed growing in the heart of our children. They are so important because we ultimately want that last phrase to be what is said of our children, "And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."

Yes! That's what we want and pray for!

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Not too long ago, Erin Davis talked with Gabrielle McCullough. There’s a young woman whose seed fell into good soil, and she is growing, increasing, and yielding fruit of her own! She is a beacon of hope in the next generation. 

Well, Erin talked to Gabrielle about ways we can better position ourselves to serve the next generation and pass on that baton of faith. Here’s Erin Davis talking to Gabrielle McCullough.

Erin Davis: Your website says this.

Whoever wants the next generation the most will get us. Pornography wants us, conservatives want us, liberals want us, social media wants us.” And then you ask this question, and it makes me want to put my head down on the desk and cry? “What would happen if the Church wanted us most? 

So, tell us what do you think would happen if the Church decided we want them most—more than any other voice that wants them?

Gabrielle McCullough: Yeah, it's good. I believe deep in my bones that God desperately wants this next generation. I think there's this invitation from the Spirit to really invite the Church into that work. And so, I think if the Church were to really fight for this next generation, and fight for us to be faithful, that we would see children discipled. We would see schools bought for and people sharing the gospel radically. 

And yeah, I just think it's really easy to look at this next generation and be discouraged by what we're hearing, what we're seeing. There's an invitation for us as believers to take a first step and ask the question of, “Hey, what would it look like for me to disciple the young people around me and actually fight for them to know God?” When we could be discouraged, I really see just an opportunity for believers to consider what their part is in seeing this next generation reached with the gospel. 

Erin: That’s so beautiful, I love that you said the Spirit is already doing it. It's whether we're going to be with Him in His work. 

Gabrielle: Absolutely.

Erin: What are some of the specific attacks you feel like the enemy has sent towards your generation?

Gabrielle: Yeah, man. I mean, there's so much we can go into, like a statistic that came out a couple years ago was that 4% of this next generation has a biblical worldview. I think there's a specific attack on truth. I'm 22 years old. I grew up in Minnesota, and so many of my friends, like they just held to this relativity around truth. They did not believe there to be an absolute truth, much less an absolute truth to come from God's Word. 

And so, we see a generation that I think in a lot of ways is spiraling. Kind of like Ephesians 4: being tossed to and fro by every wind and wave of doctrine. They're confused because they do not hold to a belief that God's Word is absolute in truth. 

And so, I think out of that spiraling we see a rise in depression and anxiety and a mental health crisis. The rise of pornography in the way that that has, has completely brought about so much destruction to this next generation. 

And so, I think the root of it is a lack of belief that God is the one who has authority, and that He is the way the truth and the life. People are spiraling out of control as a result of that. 

Erin: There's a lot of chatter about young people leaving the Church, leaving the faith. I love that your kind of mission is not just to call people to become Christians, but to be faithful. Like there's a continuity of that. 

What do you think? Is the hype accurate? Is your generation really struggling as much as the numbers seem to indicate? Or are there layers? What do you really see? 

Gabrielle: Yeah, of course, there are layers. I mean, the statistics are true. I think droves of young people are leaving the Church and not wanting anything to do with God.

I always tell people, anytime someone asked me, like, “Hey, why do you believe in this next generation?” My response is always, “I don't. I don't have faith in Gen Z. I have zero faith in my own generation. But my belief and my faith is in God and what I believe God wants to do in this next generation.” 

So, when we look at God's Word, like from Genesis to Revelation, what God continues to do generation to generation is He continues to raise up a remnant of people to be faithful to Him, like no matter what is going on. Throughout all of history God has always been faithful to preserve a people for Himself. 

And so yeah, it could be really easy to get discouraged and confused. But I just believe God is going to continue to do what He's always going to do; that He is going to preserve people for Himself and reconcile people in this next generation into a right relationship with Him.

Erin: I'm so grateful for that. 

If you could boil it down, if you could simplify it, what is the message your generation most needs to hear?

Gabrielle: There are so many things. I think most simply, the thing that I'm constantly begging God for is just that this next generation would truly hunger for Him; that we would hunger and thirst for righteousness. When there are so many people that are spiraling out of control and it feels like the destruction in the sin feels so much more evident these days, it seems really clear the ways that this next generation is pursuing their sin and their flesh. And so, I think most simply just praying that that young people would hunger for God; that they would hunger and thirst for righteousness; that they would be desperate; that there would be nothing on earth that they would desire beside Him.

Erin: You know, no revival happens apart from prayer. It's not because God can't—God can do anything at any time in any generation. But we just know from the history of revival that we pray, and then the Spirit moves. So let me take just a minute right now and pray for your generation. Thanks for sharing your heart. 

Lord Jesus, we love You, and You love every generation. You are a generational God from generation to generation. And so, I want to repeat everything Gabrielle just said. I pray that You would give her generation and every generation after her a deep hunger for truth, and that it would not be satiated by anything else, not be satiated by influence, not be satiated by performance, not be satiated by accomplishment. Those things are not truth. They're there. Sometimes they are gifts You give us, but they can't satisfy in the way You can.

So I pray that You would raise up a generation so hungry for truth that they would turn away from every other voice. God, that there would be a huge remnant, not a tiny remnant, a huge remnant, and Gabrielle's generation that will seek Your face and declare Your glory. Help us to know how to partner with the Spirit. It's in Your name I pray, amen. 

Dannah: That’s Erin Davis, with Gabrielle McCullough, praying for God’s truth to be passed on to future generations. So good!

We started today by imagining a relay race. That’s the same analogy Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth referred to as she was teaching on the life of Joshua. Let’s apply what she says to how we raise up the next generation so we have more Joshuas and Gabrielles.

Nancy: We’ve been talking about this transition from Moses’ leadership to the era when Joshua would be the leader, and this hand-off of the baton, this transition, was a very important aspect of Joshua becoming a leader.

So God directed Moses to commission Joshua in a public ceremony that involved a symbolic and spiritual transfer of authority and responsibility. It wasn’t just a transfer of the title. Anybody can have a title, but to have the authority and the responsibility that goes with that, that’s a serious thing. This was a public commissioning so that Joshua would know and the people would know that the authority and leadership of Moses is being vested in you, Joshua, as the next leader.

I see that Joshua did not take this position on himself, and I think that’s very important for us to remember. He did not put himself in this position. God raised him up, but God found a man who was prepared, who was tested and proven, a man who was available, a man who was ready to be used.

You want to serve the Lord and fulfill His purposes for your life? It’s not so important that you find a position. It’s important that you are faithful where God has put you and that you be prepared for whatever God has for you in the days ahead.

Because Joshua had not campaigned for this position but was called and appointed by God, the neat thing about that is that he was not left to fulfill this job on his own. He didn’t have to depend on his own natural abilities, his own natural wisdom, his own authority. God provided for him apart from his own resources all that was needed. God put His Spirit within Joshua. The supernatural power and presence of God was what he really needed to do this job, and that’s exactly what God gave him.

I think from the outset that Joshua realized that he was dependent—utterly dependent—on God to do this job. No matter how success Joshua had been in previous days, this was a bigger task and calling ahead of him than he could ever have bargained for. He had to be thinking to himself, “Who, me? I’m not qualified for this. I’m not capable of this.”

So Joshua had a lot of resources that God supernaturally provided for him. He had the legacy that had been passed on to him from Moses. He had been anointed, appointed, and enabled by the Spirit—no limit to His power. He was building his ministry on the foundation of years of walking with God and seeing God at work, so he had cultivated a life of faith and faithfulness.

He was now going to be assisted by the guidance of the Lord in each particular situation he would face, and that guidance would be received from the Holy Spirit, from the Word of God—we’ll see that when we come to Joshua 1—and through the help of the high priest, who would inquire of the Lord for him.

So between all those resources—the indwelling Spirit, the transfer of authority from Moses, God’s guidance through the priest—Joshua had everything he needed to lead the congregation, and you have everything you need to fulfill exactly what God has called you to do.

That’s what gives God glory—not when people see our natural talents and abilities, and they say, “Oh, what a great leader,”—but when they see our weakness and the power of God being displayed, and they say, “Oh, what a great God. If God can do something in her life, if God can use her, then God maybe can do something through my life.”

Listen, moms, motherhood is a divine calling. Wives, being a wife is a divine calling. Single women, by God’s choice and design, that’s a divine calling. That’s a gift from the Lord, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7. God has called you to serve Him, many of us in this room in different spheres and seasons of life, but you’ve got God’s calling. I’ve got God’s calling.

And to go along with that calling, God has given us His Spirit; He’s given us spiritual gifts; He’s given us His Word; He’s equipped us with the counsel, the covering, and the protection and guidance of men of God, as Joshua had Eleazar.

I'm so thankful for men of God who are students of the Word of God. I can call them from time to time or email them and say, "I'm not sure I understand what this passage is really saying. Can you help me understand it?" I'm thankful for those who have written books that help me as I try to understand some of these difficult passages of Scripture. The point is, we're not left to rely on ourselves or on our own gifts.

If you had to mother in your own strength and your gifts, wouldn't you have given up a long time ago? If you had to fulfill the calling that God has given you as a Bible study leader in your church or discipling of younger women or counseling some of the younger women who come to you and say, "What do I do? My marriage is falling apart." You say, "I don't know."

If you had to rely on your own strengths, your own gifts, your own efforts, wouldn’t you just give up? Wouldn’t you say, “I’m going to do some other calling, but not this one”? But you don’t have to rely on your own strength. You don’t have to rely on your own gifts. Neither do I. God has given us all that we need to fulfill His calling in our lives. I don’t know about you, but that strengthens me. That encourages me. That lets me know that I can press on because it’s not me, it’s His power in me.

Even all that God had provided Joshua, Joshua certainly knew (as we’ve said already) that he was stepping into humongous shoes. Joshua couldn’t compare himself to Moses. There was no comparison. He had to be secure in the fact that God had chosen, called, and equipped him to lead the people through this next period, and if God had wanted Moses to take the people into the land, God would have kept Moses alive for that purpose. God took Moses, and in His providence and wisdom maybe one of the reasons was God didn’t want Moses to get the credit for this amazing thing that happened with a newer, younger leader.

God has a mission and a purpose for each of our lives, and we can’t just keep looking to the older people to fulfill that. We need to be becoming those older people and picking up the baton so that we can provide a model of godly leadership for the next generation to follow.

That’s a huge responsibility, and all of us, as we become older women—that’s not just for public teachers that that’s supposed to be the case—the older women are to teach the younger women how to walk with God, how to love their husbands, how to love their children, how to be pure and keepers at home (see Titus 2:3–5). That’s a task as we get older. We have a responsibility to take the baton and then to pass it on to the next generation.

We each need a sense of continuity and connectedness to previous and future generations, taking the baton from the previous generation, passing the baton of faith and grace on to future generations.

You and I are just running one leg in the relay race. We’re not the whole race. We’re just one leg of it. If we could only get a vision for the fact that we are part . . . that one little leg that we run, and we run so hard, and we get out of breath, and we think we can’t make it, but that one leg we run faithfully is a part of God’s grander, greater, eternal redemptive plan.

You’re not isolated at your point in time. You are part of a continuum of faith. Moses passed it to Joshua; Joshua passed it to the next generation; they passed it to the next generation; Jesus passed the baton to His disciples; and Paul said to Timothy, “[The things] you have learned from me . . . entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2).

It’s so selfish of us just to live for the current moment and for our current generation without being conscious that we are part of a great, long relay of faith and playing well our part in picking up the baton and then passing it on.

As an older generation, we need to be inspiring, preparing, encouraging, strengthening, affirming the next generation. Mothers, that’s what you’re doing for your children. When I meet little girls, I’m sometimes thinking, The next Elisabeth Elliot is out here somewhere . . . only God knows who she is, where she is.

I want to encourage those children, bless them, and somehow in some small way be passing on the baton of faith to the next generation, giving them a vision for how God wants to use them as a part of His kingdom and His plan.

Dannah: That's Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth with some inspiring words. You may feel like you’re running that relay race with all you’ve got. Your legs feel numb. Your mouth is dry. But still, you press on and hard. And now, it’s almost time to hand that baton on to the next runner. Will you do it well? 

Let me tell you about one way I’d like to help if you have a daughter or granddaughter between the ages of seven and twelve. Lean in if that’s you. In addition to my work here at Revive Our Hearts, I lead a ministry called True Girl for tweens and their moms.

We have partnered with the Museum of the Bible to bring you the first ever national event for moms and daughters. We’re calling it the True Girl Pop Up Party, and it’s happening in Washington D.C. November 1 and 2. It’s a really unique getaway for moms and daughters who want to grow closer to each other while they both grow closer to Jesus!

It all begins Friday night with live True Girl-style worship at Grace Church. Then we’ll spend a whole day at the Museum of the Bible planting a love for God’s Word in your girls and practical skills about how to study it. Who knows? It just might stir up your love for God’s Word too. To find out more, you’ll find a link when you go to ReviveOurHearts.com/weekend and click on today’s episode. It’s called “Passing Your Faith to the Next Generation.”

Today, Nancy mentioned the divine calling we have in whatever stage of life or marital status we’re in. Next week on this program, we’ll hone in on singleness and look more closely at how you as a single can be characterized by single-minded contentment. I hope you’ll join us for that.

Thanks for listening today. I’m Dannah Gresh. We’ll see you next time for Revive Our Hearts Weekend.

This program is a listener-supported production of Revive Our Hearts in Niles, Michigan, calling women to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ.

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