The Third Generation Question

"When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel." Judges 2:10

This morning, in his sermon, pastor Rubi brought up the subject of the third generation and how it is the third generation that sells the farm. This is a deep subject and one which I will not attempt to tackle here. But it is a pertinent subject for our Fellowship as time marches on.

We all think that we will live forever just as we are and that things will remain the same forever. But deep in our hearts we know that this is not true. We see our parents and grandparents get old and die. We see fads change and societal norms change. We all reach a point in life where we yearn for the good old days. Days that are gone forever.

I was genuinely concerned when pastor Mitchell died. I wondered if our Fellowship would or could survive without him. So far it seems that my fears were unfounded. But I am wondering, as the clock continues to tick, if we will survive in a form we would recognize beyond the second generation of Fellowship leaders.

The founder is the one who paved the way and who payed the price and who through trial and error found out what works. The second generation, not wanting to lose what they have, work hard to maintain the gains and to perfect the gains of the founder. But the third generation wonders why we do what we do and what's the point of it all and they become skeptics and they fail to appreciate the gift they were given and so they squander it all away. America is full of old church buildings that used to be alive and vibrant and now are monuments to a forgotten time in their church's history.

Prescott is the only true first generation church in our Fellowship. But there are second generation churches that have first generation status. Tucson is a fist generation church. San Antonio is a first generation church. Prescott is a second generation church now, having shifted from it's founder to the next generation of pastoral leadership. First generation churches are ones who have growth and influence under their current headship. In our Fellowship many of our first generation churches are getting very old.

One final question. Is the third generation problem inevitable?