"The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith." — Billy Graham

I am on a mission to bring back gender-based, multi-generational discipleship. To say it another way, I want to end segregation in the Church.

I believe Martin Luther King Jr. was right when he said, "The most segregated hour in the world is eleven o'clock on Sunday morning..." What is even more heartbreaking is that we schemed for this. In the early '70s, Donald McGavarn, a church growth 'expert', wrote a book called Understanding Church Growth. This book became the bible for many church planters and helped catalyze the mega-church movement [e.g., in 1970, there were approximately 40 mega-churches; by 1990, there were 400; by 2001, there were 1400].

In the book, McGavran champions the homogeneous unit principle in church growth. The basic idea is this: more people will come to your church [and Christ] if they don't have to cross racial, linguistic, or class barriers.

In other words, people are more likely to attend your church if it's made up of people who look like them. For this reason, any attempt to integrate different ethnicities or classes into the same church should be avoided because it will hinder church growth. McGavran shockingly [and heretically] goes so far as to say that seeking to grow a church that integrates people from different homogeneous units is "contrary to the will of God." And I quote:

"To attempt to plant congregations in several homogeneous units at once, arguing that Christian ethics demand this, and insisting on integration first, whether the church grows or not, is a self-defeating policy and, with rare exceptions, contrary to the will of God."

Many of our churches adopted this unbiblical people-conscious approach; some went as far as creating avatars for the type of folks they were looking to attract [Saddleback was notorious for this, they created Saddleback Sam, an affluent baby boomer archetype that represented Rick Warren's target people group].

I am convinced that the homogeneous approach has done more harm than any other approach or teaching in the last 100 years. This approach is the epitome of partiality, the sin that James condemns in James Ch. 2. The Bible clearly teaches that the gospel breaks down and overcomes division between races, classes, and languages (Ephesians 2:14, Galatians 3:28). Indeed, the gospel takes men and women who were once enemies and turns them into family, co-heirs through their mutual salvation in Christ. The Apostles wrote letters to churches made up of Gentile and Jewish Christians. Any attempt to segregate the church around race, class, or any other social construct must be opposed. It's antithetical to the gospel of King Jesus.

Yet, this is not simply a race and class issue. The Church took the homogeneous unit principle even further and began [and continues] to separate everyone by age and stage. In fact, most communal and small group settings are built on age and stage segregation.

From Monday to Sunday, we are quick to separate children from their parents.

We separate single people from married ones.

We separate those with a full quiver from those with an empty nest.

We separate blue collar from white collar.

We’ve built silos for tweens, teens, those adulting, those tired of adulting, and those wearing adult diapers.

It is not uncommon for a Church of 300 people or more to have 20+ different age and stage silos under one roof. The result? Multi-generational discipleship is almost non-existent, and no one is learning from anyone else.

Wisdom and Zeal

It has long been said, "Wisdom is wasted on the old, and youth is wasted on the young."This pericope reflects a poignant truth about the generational divide that exists in most churches. What would happen if the wisdom and experience of old age met the energy and zeal of youthfulness? The Lord tells us, "Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." Something incredible happens when people of diverse backgrounds and different life experiences co-exist—this beautiful symbiotic relationship occurs when men [and women] of varying ages and stages get together.

I believe this is the revival the Church is in need of. Our churches are more resourced than ever, yet we have never been as powerless as we are today. Churches are as big and as far reaching as they have ever been, but they have never lacked as much influence. Why? Because the $6,000,000,000+ we spend a year on children's and youth ministry is not doing it.

The copious amounts of programs, studies, and events we host for our women are not doing it.

The celebrity-filled, adrenalin-fueled passion conferences are not enough. Passion needs wisdom. And wisdom needs passion.

Your church will grow in power and prominence when your old men dream dreams and your young men gain wisdom. Men are the high tide. Your church will never rise above the emotional and spiritual level of its men.

As leaders, we must begin to tear down the walls of age and stage segregation and start bridging the generational gaps in our pews, classrooms, and houses of worship.

How do we do this and where do we start? More on that next week... But for now, let’s stack and hands and agree… down with segregation.

Love y’all,

— Harp