未竟事业

婴儿潮信徒的挑战
By Landa Cope
世界基督教 - 三月 1999

编者按: 在10月 1988 在第一次抛光论坛在芝加哥, 伊利诺伊州, Landa Cope challenged restless baby boomers to harness the dream of their generation and change the world for Christ during their mid-life and retirement years. This article is adapted from her plenary speech.

在 1965, I was a first-year university student and an atheist. I gave speeches on why not to believe in the Bible. I wanted radical injustice eradicated, 政治腐败暴露, peace rather than war. We wanted materialistic values to be replaced by something meaningful.

作为一代人，我们有一个梦想, and our dream was that we would change our world. Time magazine told us God was dead and we were eager to fill the void. We were the largest genaration in history and we were a force to contend with.

But our dream was shattered as we wept through assassination after assassination. Shattered as we watched resignations. Shattered by idols dying of drugs. Shattered by a thousand inconsistencies between what we hoped and dreamed for and what we were actually able to accomplish.

Despair and disillusionment drove millions of our generation into the kingdom of God during the 1970s and 80s. 和, 你瞧, Time magazine announced the “Jesus Revolution.“ Megachurches were born. Young people excited about their new found faith were dubbed Jesus freaks. Contemporary Christian music was conceived. The largest missions movement in history was launched.

从神的使命
我来到基督 1970, not because I wanted to be a Christian but because I met the God who created the universe and had to bow to the reality of him. I have always been a reluctant Christian, but an eager believer. And after nearly 30 多年的使命, I still am. I had seen what the radicals of my generation could not produce. I had seen what didn’t work. When I came into the kingdom of God, 我想, “现在我和耶稣是多数，我们要改变我们的世界。”

我们这一代人的梦想 - 神的心脏催生一个梦想 - 改变我们的世界, 使之成为一个更好的地方居住, to make truth reign. (即使我们不知道什么是真理, 这是我们的梦想。) God birthed our dream for justice, 公平, 和平, 生活质量, 真理和意义，所以我们也只是希望能达到他们, but so we could bring them into existence. It is our destiny to change our world!

And we have changed it. Never has the church been larger. Never has it been more diverse. But our dream has never been to be the largest or the most diverse. If that were our dream, we would enjoy the last part of our lives and relinquish the unfinished task of world evangelism to another generation. Our dream was to change the world, but we’re not satisfied. We’re not satisfied because we have not yet seen our dream fulfilled.

我见过的男人和女人，上帝在更小的数字变化历史; they evoke change so powerful even non-Christians noticed. The United States calls itself a Christian nation, 但这个国家从来没有更不道德, 唯物主义的, violent and unjust. The church in America has never poured more energy and prayer into any single issue than abortion. And what have we accomplished? 良好, we have family values as a political platform. But what I want to know is, 其家庭价值观? Statistics show that Christian families are ending in divorce at the same rate as non-Christian families. And we have imparted our “values“ to other nations.

未得潜力
We claim a large percentage of Africa has been evangelized. However most African nations – Malawi, 卢旺达, 乌干达, 纳米比亚和加纳, to name a few – did not change for the better even with the arrival of Christianity. Each of these nations remains diseased, 暴力, 不公正和破坏.

我们不知道，我们有话不值得? We’re a big generation, 赞美上帝, but we’re not deep. We may have the largest church in history, but may also be the weakest and least effective church the world has ever known. 怎么会是这样? Does the gospel have no teeth? 哪里是有形, 可见的证据表明，基督使我们的生活中, 家园, 社区, 城市和国家? How can the fruit of the largest church in the history of the world be so minuscule?

我们怎能说，这是怎样的国度看起来? Every Sunday we pray, “愿你的国降临, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.“ Then most of us go home and say, “耶稣, 很快到来，因为它是凌乱这里。“

It is way past time to transform the church. We must see local churches demonstrating the truth that empowers believers to see their lives changed, 谈不到一起保持家庭, but to see the revelation that keeps families together. God wants us to tell a generation of Xers and Busters, 谁害怕死亡的婚姻: “Here is what God’s plan was and here’s how to see it restored. Here’s what we didn’t know before, 但我们现在知道“。

实现我们的梦想
Our dream was to change our world and we are not satisfied. We are not satisfied because as a generation we have not fully inherited our dream. We are not finished yet, and God is not finished with us. When Joseph was 17, he thought he knew how to inherit the vision. By the time he was 30, he realized he knew nothing and was almost ready. When he was 37, 他看到神通过他达成的愿景.

We are just about ready as a generation to inherit some of the promises we made when we were 17. We are just about at the end of our tether and ready to say, “神, 我们是基督徒在历史上最大的一堆, 我们没有线索!“

We are also a generation that could lose it’s promise. Israel did. God promised them a nation, but they didn’t have a big enouch concept of God or a great enough faith. They said, “No.“ And it took 40 years for the next generation to be prepared. Can you imagine what will happen if we drop the torch now? If we turn our backs on God’s destiny for this generation, 它可能是 40 年，直到下一代的准备，甚至开始! Where will our world be then? This is not about us; this is about God. It was not Israel’s dream to have a nation; it was God’s dream. It is not our dream to change our world; 它是神的梦想种植在我们.

吩咐我们不仅要达到所有国家, but to disciple the nations – to turn our world upside down as the apostles did. The Roman Empire, 其一天的最伟大的国度, was totally transformed by the lives of these early believers. We’re called to get back the dream we had as teenagers, 因为这是我们作为一代神的梦想.

支架和交付
You are not too old. You are not too late. You are just right. Moses was 80 岁的时候就开始了! Now is the time for the baby boomer church to begin expressing its creativity and wisdom. Now is the time for a radical church to rise up and say, “我们将找出如何影响我们的社区和国家带来的仆人。”

You are on a misison from God. It is a mission yet unknown in the world that we live in. God is not calling us to join things. He’s calling us to change things. And missions needs to be changed. We are reaching the lost, but we are not discipling them as is evidenced in their lives and communities. God said to proclaim the gospel to all creation and disciple all nations. We need to see mission not only as proclaiming, but also as discipling. And we can begin right where you are. I don’t know if you’ll be led overseas. Jesus wasn’t. But you still have a mission. And your mission is not yet fulfilled.

We’re not finished yet. We’re not even close. But we have to fight to give fire to the dream. We have to let this fire spark into flame what we thought we lost forever. Because it’s not too late, he’s still working and he’s been expecting you. You have unfinished business.

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兰达应对, 我们传播学院的创院院长，, 国大学, 一个青年事工的使命, 他经常在训练国家.