Orienting Outward

August 30, 2011. I just had a look at Washington Monthly’s  “College Guide”. It’s an alternative to the typical rankings  from publications like US News and World Report. The writers say they want to tell applicants not “what colleges can do for you”, but “what colleges are doing for the country.” So they rank colleges on the percentage of students receiving Pell grants, the number of faculty in national academies, federal work-study grants spent on service, student hours spent in community service, and percentage of students in ROTC and going to the Peace Corps. These rankings are for potential college students who might consider a school based in how it serves society.

Churches would do well to remember that there are people, especially younger people, who look for churches in the same way. I wonder sometimes whether “self-fulfillment” is a baby boomer need. Younger church seekers are looking for something else. They tend to look for churches where they can experience real community and that can connect them to opportunities for service. In church lingo, young church seekers want to grow in discipleship. If we want to serve younger generations, we better get good at clearly proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and helping people, members or not, find ways to share the love of Jesus in service to others.

God Bless You!

Doug Kearney

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