{"id":939,"date":"2018-03-31T15:40:38","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T15:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/?p=939"},"modified":"2018-04-16T20:33:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-16T20:33:16","slug":"generations-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/2018\/03\/31\/generations-2\/","title":{"rendered":"gEnerations"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Investing In the Next Generation.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Can a 120 year old care for a toddler? Does a 120 year old have the energy to impact and influence its community and its movement? Should we trust a 120 year old to foster and care for the next generation of leaders? These are some of the questions we frequently wrestle with as the mother church of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church approaches its 120th birthday, this October.<\/p>\n<p>At The First Church in Goldsboro, NC, our calling and passion is to be a family-centered, multi-generational church that is intentional about reaching all generations and reflecting our movements heart to value all generations.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-942 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/first-ph-church.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/first-ph-church.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/first-ph-church-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/first-ph-church-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/first-ph-church-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>God is a generational God. There are over 130 references to generations in the Bible. Seventy of those references are to the next generation, yet out of those seventy, almost all of them link that future generation to the previous generation. God thinks generationally. He plants things in us that will bud in our children and blossom in our grandchildren. He celebrates past generations of faithfulness and anticipates future generational fruitfulness.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">\u201c<em>Generation after generation stands in awe of your work;\u00a0each one tells stories of your mighty acts.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Psalm 145:4<\/p>\n<p>The previous generation of The First Church believed God was giving this church a greater influence in its movement and in its community. So, they took bold steps and our generation has been able to benefit from their faith and vision. We have to be <strong>INTENTIONAL<\/strong> about reaching this next generation, or we will <strong>UNINTENTIONALLY<\/strong> lose them. Economists are telling us that we are mortgaging our children\u2019s and grandchildren\u2019s futures by our failed economic policies. \u00a0Environmentalists are telling us that we are leaving an environmental disaster for our children and grandchildren to deal with. Spiritually, we have the same potential for destruction if we do not value and become intentional about the next generation.<\/p>\n<p>One of the saddest passages in the Bible is in Joshua 2 where we read,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>\u201cJoshua son of Nun, the servant of the lord, died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land he had been allocated\u2026After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remembers the mighty things he had done for Israel.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Judges 2:7-10<\/p>\n<p>The sad epitaph of, \u201c<em>[they]\u00a0did not acknowledge the Lord,<\/em>\u201d is shocking. The problem was a generational breakdown. The previous generation <strong>FAILED<\/strong> to show them how great and powerful God is. The result is they grew up not acknowledging God. It is easy to discern that our present generation has potential of being a Judges 2:10 generation!<\/p>\n<p>In America, within the time that a typical church service takes place,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>960 teens will cut themselves.<\/li>\n<li>3,970 will get drunk.<\/li>\n<li>160 will drop out of school.<\/li>\n<li>178 will be abused.<\/li>\n<li>120 will run away from home.<\/li>\n<li>480 will get high on pills from a medicine cabinet.<\/li>\n<li>120 will have a baby.<\/li>\n<li>720 will contract an STD.<\/li>\n<li>1 will be murdered by another teen.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This generation of teens is <strong>OVEREXPOSED<\/strong>\u00a0to dealing with stress, disorders, anxiety, peer pressure and bullying. This present generation is called the \u201cfatherless generation\u201d because <em>40%<\/em> of children are born to a single mom.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">God had a better plan!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">He has a generational plan.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>\u201cThe plans of the Lord stand firm forever the purposes of His heart through all generations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Psalms 33:11<\/p>\n<p>Our dream is to provide a place where people of all generations learn, love, laugh and live together in unity. We are working to counteract our culture that has lost its way by providing positive and encouraging programs to children and students, while celebrating our heritage and imparting those lessons and values to a new generation.<\/p>\n<p>One of The First Church&#8217;s values is <strong>INTERCONNECTED<\/strong> generations. Our fall evangelistic drama annually attracts 20,000 people and is written, produced and performed by our church family. Everyone from ages 5 to 75 are working together and connected to make the ministry effective and fulfilling.\u00a0This fall outreach pulls our entire congregation together to work inter-generationally to pursue one purpose and one mission for His kingdom. Every congregation needs a ministry which engages and integrates every generation in one single mission. Our Tuesday morning prayer group comprised of 20 senior ladies prays for our middle school and high school students, by name, each week. We often say, we don&#8217;t <strong>HAVE<\/strong> a youth ministry, (a student ministry on the side), we <strong>ARE<\/strong> a youth ministry. We don&#8217;t <strong>HAVE<\/strong> a children\u2019s ministry, (a children\u2019s ministry on the side), we <strong>ARE<\/strong> a children\u2019s ministry. We don\u2019t <strong>HAVE<\/strong> a senior ministry, (a senior ministry on the side), we <strong>ARE<\/strong> a senior\u2019s ministry. We are engaged in multi-generational community and service projects.\u00a0Frequently, yard maintenance teams or food distribution teams will serve in our community, and they will consist of at least 3 generations. We are presently on a mission to provide a bed for the over 70 students in our public schools that sleep on the floor. Those beds are assembled by inter-generational teams.<\/p>\n<p>We are <strong>INTENTIONAL<\/strong> with our facilities. In the 70&#8217;s, a generation moved our church to its present location giving it a more spacious and highly visible location. In the early 1990&#8217;s, another generation led by Bishop Jim Whitfield built a multi-purpose ministry center which offered inter-generational sports, fellowship and ministry development.\u00a0In that facility, there are weekly Bible studies, outreach ministry trainings, art classes, and music and voice lessons. In the 2000&#8217;s, a remodeled sanctuary, a new educational facility and a state of the art children&#8217;s center were constructed to attract another generation of parents, children,\u00a0and students.\u00a0We are intentional with dedicated worship space and dedicated staff to serve the families and needs of our community. Our worship services are integrated and blended with a diverse group of ages and styles.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-941\" src=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/TheFirstPHChurch-Title4.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"3200\" height=\"833\" srcset=\"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/TheFirstPHChurch-Title4.jpg 3200w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/TheFirstPHChurch-Title4-300x78.jpg 300w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/TheFirstPHChurch-Title4-768x200.jpg 768w, https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/TheFirstPHChurch-Title4-1024x267.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Our internship targets and develops next generation leaders.\u00a0Our goal is to <strong>INSPIRE<\/strong> and <strong>IMPART<\/strong> ministry to a new generation. We have 4 student-led worship bands on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, who are mentored and trained by a previous generation of leaders. Our children\u2019s services feature student-led small groups, puppets, and media and production teams, again inspired and mentored by a previous generation.<\/p>\n<p>Many people die before they fulfill their purpose, our passion is to step up and serve our generations. Our prayer is to seize our opportunities and serve our generations,<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>\u201cNow when David had served God&#8217;s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Acts 13:36<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Written By: Pastor Bill Rose<\/p>\n<p>Photos Courtesy Of: The First Church<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investing In the Next Generation. Can a 120 year old care for a toddler? Does a 120 year old have the energy to impact and influence its community and its&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[234,54],"tags":[270,78,149,235,273,272,252,65,271,269],"class_list":{"0":"post-939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allgenerations","8":"category-evusa","9":"tag-bill","10":"tag-evusa","11":"tag-generation","12":"tag-generations","13":"tag-investing","14":"tag-iphc","15":"tag-next","16":"tag-pastor","17":"tag-rose","18":"tag-the-first-church","19":"entry"},"title_es":"gEnerations","content_es":"","author_name":"","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/04\/gEnerations-March-2018.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbhxDC-f9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iphc.org\/evangelism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}