But the Lord intends for their children to serve Him too. The children of church members are to become church members themselves. The children of Holy Ghost parents are sanctified, or set apart. I Corinthians 7:14. God instituted the family unit in the Garden of Eden, and always worked through families.
Churches are composed of several generations of Christians. The first generation is composed primarily of the church planters, the second generation is primarily church builders, and the third and subsequent generations are, unfortunately, church compromisers. There are exceptions to every rule. Third Generation Christians can act like First Generation ones, and vice versa, but the pattern is clear.
Once a church has been in existence several years, maybe several decades, there will be members of various generations. new members will be first generation; third generation Christians will be surrounded by many second generation ones, etc. But when the majority of the church is composed of third, fourth, and fifth generation members, apostasy usually sets in.
That is what happened in the early church. The first 30 years was the first generation era - the time of the apostles. They planted the foundation. Then the next generation of church builders arrived. These were the Timothys and Tituses. "Paul planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." I Corinthians 3:6. The next generation lead them into apostasy. Peter, Jude, and even Paul before his death, had to fight a rear-guard action against iniquity. Justin Martyr, Polycarp and other third generation Christians compromised and lost God. This happened to the powerful movements started by Martin Luther, John Wesley, and others. How many generations were they used of God? Was it two, or three? How soon did a powerful religious movement apostatize? Wasn't it Martin Luther who said, "The Word of God can leave us?" And it did.
Will that happen to us in our day? - Yes, unless God helps us. The way He may help us is to give third, fourth, and fifth generation members the desire to obtain the strengths of the first and second generations. And He may help them to overcome the weaknesses of their own generations.
Let's consider each of the first three generations of church membership. We won't go into the fourth and subsequent generations because of their similarity to generation three; they continue in the path that leads to spiritual ruin.
First Generation Christians
The first generation of church builders blast out a foundation to build upon. These are the church planters. God sends a man into an area, and some people begin to respond to the message he preaches, the spirit he shows and the confirmation of the power of God. A small church, an assembly on trial, is formed.
I call this "The Moses Generation." See Exodus 3:4-22. These saints have wonderful experiences with God. They sacrifice, and God honors their offering. They can tell of wonderful experiences with God, and miraculous events.
The Moses Generation is characterized by its zeal and its willingness to suffer. Despite hardships, they serve on. They have a vision of what God can do, and they give sacrificially to have it. They give their time, their talents and their money. They don't go on extravagant vacations, or spend their tithes on themselves, or work on their own house when there is work to do at church. The work of the Lord is more important to them than anything else in this world.
First generation Christians think nothing of working at church every night. The message of Haggai 1:4-8 is theirs: "Is it time for ye to dwell in your own ceiled houses, and my house to lie waste?"
This is a generation of pioneers, of trailblazers, of visionaries. they have some weaknesses, too. They tend to be intolerant and judgmental, expecting others to live up to the lofty idealism that they possess.
Revelation 2:9 is a message to the Moses Generation. "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)."
The Second Generation
The second generation is the era of church builders. They take and assembly on trial, and turn it into a permanent local assembly, or even a center assembly. They come of age while the First Generation is still on the scene. They have the finances to build nice facilities, to give the church an outreach through printing and electronic media, etc.
This generation has knowledge. They are keenly aware of their parent's experiences with God, and grow up with a knowledge of the Word of God. Revelation 2:19 describes this group. "I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience."
The second generation is characterized by their ability. For example, the first generation piano player and band may have made up in determination what they lacked in talent; but the second generation music department is talented.
This generation sees its duty and does it. To them, duty is an honorable word. They do not question why, they just do what they know to be right.
The second generation is the "Joshua Generation." Joshua 1:5-9. They, and the elders who over-live them, will serve the Lord because of the knowledge of His works. Joshua 24:31. They possess the land their fathers dreamed of. They take strongholds and spoil the land. Sadly, their children will be ruined by the abundance of spoil and lack of pressure from any plausible enemies.
The Joshua Generation continues in the word and work of the Moses Generation. To a large extent, they fulfill the vision their parents dreamed of - in this case a flourishing, vibrant church. They build nice facilities to worship God in, where others can come and feel like they, too, are building something for the Lord. (Those same new members probably would not have felt comfortable in the Moses Generation church.)
The church often reaches its peak during this Generation's era. But one glaring weakness of the Joshua Generation is its failure to teach the next one. See Deuteronomy 6:7.
The Third Generation
Sadly, I don't have much good to say about the third, fourth, and fifth generations of believers and belongers. They lack both the commitment of the Moses Generation and the sense of duty that the Joshua Generation possessed. "Woe to them that are at ease in Zion." Amos 6:1.
The third generation is a cooling generation. They are characterized by materialism, worldliness and compromise. The experiences of their grandparents do not seem real or relevant to them - to the extent that they have been told about them. Because of a failure of their parents to teach, this generation lacks the knowledge that was seen in the Joshua Generation.
This is "Another Generation" that is referred to in Judges 2:10-13. "And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." This Other Generation does not have the experiences to say that they "know the Lord," nor do they have the knowledge of "the works He had done for Israel." They forsake the Lord of their parents. Verse 12.
There is still a church, and they come when it is not too inconvenient - if they feel like it. But there is no commitment; no feeling of duty to hold them. If they have an excuse, they don't come to service. They may come some of the time, or even most of the time, but their parents and grandparents came every time the doors were open.
In the Moses Generation, a church of 65 people would have 60-65 in every service. In the Joshua Generation, a church of 120 would have 110-115 in every service. In the Other Generation, a church composed of 175 persons who call it their church will have 100-110 in every service. Prior generations would come to church sick; asking God to heal them. The Other Generation doesn't come if they are tired.
Revelation 3:2 is a message to the Other Generation. "Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God." If they do not heed that message, then the message of verses 15-18 will apply: the church will become lukewarm, and will be spewed out.
We are not to seek the good life in this life. We are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Matthew 6:33. But the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and the church members become unfruitful. Matthew 13:22.
There is some good in the Other Generation - they tithe, they send their children to a church school, but their commitment to the church does not run deep. They are easily offended, and determined to have their own way. Instead of submitting to God's will for their lives, they plan and plot their lives, and become angry or frustrated when those plans do not work out.
When the Other Generation predominates in a church - it is in trouble. New members and even prior generation members see the pattern of the majority and conform to it. And the church loses something very valuable.
Part of the problem with third generation Christians is that they do not have a dramatic conversion experience. They have never been in the world, so they do not understand the shallowness of the world. They are easily enticed. Their grandparents have been there, and so have no desire to go back. But Another Generation believers have always known about church, and their conversion is gradual and expected.
The Solution to the Generational Problem
There is an answer for a church that is increasingly an Other Generation church - break the mold. You do not have to act in conformity to the generally-accepted pattern. The conventional wisdom was that no prophet could arise out of Galilee, John 7:52, but the conventional wisdom was wrong.
The conventional wisdom is that the Other Generation cannot be committed to having a vibrant, powerful church; but the conventional wisdom can be wrong.
The grace and power of God can take hold of our young people. There can arise in them a thirst for living water, John 4:13-14, and for the knowledge of the Lord, Amos 8:11. There can arise a dedication to be at church, regardless of the excuse. They can make serving the Lord the absolute number one priority in their lives. Psalms 137:5-6. This applies not only to the actual church services, but the various activities that are necessary for the church to fulfill its mission - maintenance, cleaning, work crews, library, printing, school monitoring, etc.
Other Generation Christians, let the fire burn! Pray for the zeal of the Lord to consume you. Take Kind David for an example. He was not a first or even a second generation believer. He was the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz and Ruth, and on back to Judah. Yet David had a zeal to see more done for God than the prior generations had done. He was zealously affected in a good thing. He prayed and he worked for God. He became a champion of the faith. Third, fourth, and following generation church members can be champions of the faith, too.