The Few Years We Have: Loving the Next Generation Well
High school graduation season is here in Bolivia, and every year it brings the same realization. Our time with our young people is unbelievably short. One moment they are kids with questions, searching hearts, and open hands. Then suddenly they are walking across a stage, stepping into adulthood, carrying with them whatever we poured into their lives during those fast-moving years.
Those years are some of the most fragile, formative, confusing, and spiritually hungry years they will ever experience.
But so often, instead of discipling them intentionally, we settle for trying to make faith look fun enough to keep them around. We hope that if the church environment feels inviting, they will keep showing up. We hope that if we can get them in a seat, eventually they will listen. We hope that if they stay long enough, they will somehow love God enough on their own to stand firm when they leave home. Oh and how it hurts so bad when they choose to walk away.
But hope alone is not discipleship.
The reality is this: we do not have much time. Their teenage years go by quickly. They grow up, make decisions, build habits, and form beliefs whether we guide them or not.
So what would it look like if we took these short years seriously?
What if we loved them well, not with shallow niceness but with real, Christ-like love? What if correction was done gently, patiently, and in truth? What if discipleship was not an afterthought but the foundation? What if we prayed for them consistently, by name, with expectation and with compassion? What if we invited them for conversations, meals, or ice cream, not to fill time but to fill their hearts with the dignity of being heard? What if we treated them as image bearers, not as projects?
Because God is not standing over them with a list of wrongs. He is pursuing them, drawing them close, keeping them close, and pouring His love over their young and unsteady hearts.
And here is the part we often overlook: the next generation becomes whatever we are. If we, the adults, are spiritually immature, easily offended, inconsistent, or uncommitted, they will learn that Christianity is something we talk about instead of something we live.
If we straddle the line between Christian and non-Christian living, they will too. If we treat holiness as optional, they will assume the same. If we are casual about prayer, scripture, confession, and obedience, they will believe those things are optional.
Many of us want young people to be spiritually mature while we remain spiritually young. We want them to flee sin while we entertain it. We want them to love the Bible while ours stays closed. We want them to share their faith while we remain quiet. We want them to commit to the church and community while we drift in and out.
We are the leaders of today’s church, whether we hold a position or not. Whether we want to or not. If you carry the name Christian publicly, then live it. Because who you are is what you will multiply.
The next generation does not need perfection from us. They need sincerity. They need adults who take their spiritual growth seriously. They need believers who reflect Christ honestly and wholeheartedly.
They need us, not as entertainers but as examples. Not as behavior police but as shepherds. Not as rule enforcers but as living testimonies of grace.
So let us grow up and show up, not only for ourselves but for them.
Let us become the leaders they need, offering a faith worth imitating. Let us build a church that loves, disciples, and pursues them with intention. Because the few short years we have with them matter more than we think.
A Prayer for Us and for Them
Lord,
Make us mature believers who reflect You well. Grow us where we have grown comfortable. Convict us where we have compromised. Strengthen us where we are weak.
Teach us to love the next generation with intention, consistency, and sacrifice. Help us disciple them with patience, correction, compassion, and truth. Give us spiritual eyes to see them the way You do. Show us their value and remind us that they are worth every moment of investment.
May our lives point them to You. Jesus, raise up young men and women who walk closely with You. And raise up adults who are willing to lead them well.
Melinda was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA. She has been married to Romon for 18 years and is a VERY proud mother of three beautiful children. For the past 16 years, she has served as a missionary alongside her husband in Bolivia, building and finding any way possible to love others and glorify Christ in her heart, home, ministry, and life.