Intergenelution

I love me a good revolution. This is not because it means, "A sudden or momentous change in a situation." Anyone who knows me well can tell you I really don't mind NOT changing. Simply ask any restaurant I frequent as I can walk into several and be recited my order without having to place it myself. I'm not really into spontaneity. If it works, why mess with it?

My fascination with revolution is instead based upon why change takes place and the results that follow. The American Revolution in the 1700s. The Industrial Revolution in the 1800s The Technological Revolution of today. Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to walk through the streets of Philadelphia during my bachelor party on a private tour walking into the very houses, buildings, churches, and streets that the founders of our country talked, listened, and formulated a plan with one another before executing an undertaking that has transformed the history of the modern world. Getting there by car, and gallivanting about with the internet and it's wealth of information in my pocket; my experience at that moment pulled all three eras together.

(conspiracy theorists, acknowledged)

The next great revolution that will take place is the Intergenelution. Oh, wait. Never heard of it? Let me explain. I believe that as we seek revival and transformation, both individually and collectively, it needs to happen intergenerationally. We know that the church is supposed to be a body, with each member performing a unique God-ordained function to the execution of evangelism. As a part of this is the generation they represent. Paul's writings to Timothy is the perfect example of this. The older guy is writing to the younger guy to remind him to make sure the really old ladies are taken care of (among other things).

A conversation I had yesterday after church showed me how different generations can focus on a certain aspect of Christianity. For example, you have the "upper agers" who focused a ton on the law which resulted in the "middle agers" needing to be won through the message of grace because they already had overly exceeded their law fix. But then, you had the "middle agers" focusing so much on grace that the "lower agers" have similarly exceeded their grace fix and are now creating ministries that are focusing a ton on the law. Each proves valuable within its own generational context. I might espouse a pro-law theology. If left to my own devices, that might be all I speak of simply because I have heard so much about grace, it has become cheap to me so I assume that is the case with everyone else. However, this assumption is clearly not true, and continually being reminded of this is necessary for an accurate picture of salvation to be presented. And this is just a piece of why intergenerational ministry is key.

Inter- is a prefix meaning between, mutual, or reciprocal; gen, shortened for generation; and in chemistry, elution is the process of removing an adsorbed material from an adsorbent by washing it in a liquid. We were all absorbed by the world but have been removed from it when we were bathed in the blood of Christ. This is the intergenelution, folks.

On Friday, I looked up "intergenelution" in Google and there were zero hits. Today I did, and there was one documenting my purchase of intergenelution.com. And so, it starts.