And yet, and yet…

A few days ago I applied the principles of water runoff from a torrential rain storm to the way that we saturate our lives with “spiritual growth” but do not let it flow on to others. It’s a good conversation for the individual movement.

But does the principle apply beyond the individual? Yesterday, David Kinnaman of Barna produced results from some of their recent polling that there is an increasing percentage of young people (Gen Z and Millenials) that are pointing to Jesus as the core principle of their lives. The rate they found in the American population is in the high 60%s. (By the way, if you are not connected, currently the Global Missional AI Summit is going on in Dallas, and they have a free simulcast. You can sign up and link in here: https://missional.ai/)

This is a very encouraging statistic, and one that I’ve seen manifest through our ministry here in Austin. We have seen dozens of young adults coming to the Lord and testifying to their faith in baptism, and the flow seems to be increasing. These generations long to find life in Jesus.

So how does this wave of encouragement apply? I think those that are involved with the Church need to be very careful in how we interpret this movement. In short, I think we need to beware of the assumption that these people are coming to faith because of our methods in the Church; beyond this, we need to beware of taking these people in and failing to cultivate their lives in Christ to discipleship.

I think about it like the story of Joseph and how he saved Egypt by storing food in time of plenty for when there was a coming time of famine. Our tendency in the world when things are good and spiritual growth is easy is to make lots of assumptions. We assume that new people in the church will know how things work in the church. We assume that we can just keep using the same methods we’ve always used and they’ll be effective. We assume that they’ll just fit in and participate. We assume that they’ll find our portals of discipleship without someone reaching out and coming alongside.

Assumptions are your enemy. Pride is your enemy.

Some of the things that cause the worst runoff in projects are those spaces that are designed without regard for what rainwater will do. As a result, there is waste of the water and there is degradation of the building.

Some of the things that cause the worst runoff in churches are a failure to consider what new people need in their spiritual life and an assumption that they’ll just find their way to growth and perseverance. As a result there is a waste of the spiritual gifting of the individual and eventually these new believers will fade into the background.

The Holy Spirit is doing a work in our time, and we are privileged to walk alongside Him. The current changing environment of spiritual openness was not caused by evangelical work. It is a move of the Spirit. Are you honoring His work by considering how you can personally change your routines to begin discipling another person on the path of Christ?

One last point on this: how does overflow fit in then? If the work of the church starts within the walls and the excitement and impact escape the church to impact the community for Christ, then it becomes overflow. It is a richness that takes the lavished grace we receive and watch it multiply among the Nations. Overflow should be our joy.

So consider well what your church will do with this coming abundance of spiritual rain, the people that God loves being moved by the Spirit to seek Him. I’m so excited to greet and connect with these God is raising up. Will you produce overflow or runoff?