Next Generation

Watch this exciting 8-minute video:"When New England Prays 2008: The New England Alliance Prayer Movement Vision"

Note: This essay was written by Dick Kiernan, member of the Steering Committee of our partner organization, the New England Alliance. Dick is also the Field Ministries Director of Alpha NE.

Introduction

The leaders of the NE Alliance have repeatedly sensed that the Lord was calling as to prioritize and emphasize the involvement of the “next generation” in the prayer movement. However, there was not a clear sense of what this would involve and how it should be incorporated into our overall vision.

The Vision Begins to Unfold: Intergenerational Unity Focus

A gathering of the young adults in our NE Alliance community began to explain that they felt strongly that this was not meant to be a separate ministry to the “next generation.” These leaders went on to explain how they have often been segregated from the older generation, but they really desire to be integrated together.

Our secular society has initiated this segregation which also carries a sense of alienation among the generations. For example, in the 1960s, the baby boomer “me” generation had revolted against the older generation. Then in the following decades, the baby boomers led the way to further alienation through increased abortions and divorce, the fracture of the family, and ultimately segregating the generations.

What is the basis of the generational unity?

However, the Lord initiated continuity in passing the faith down from generation to generation (i,e., Deut. 6:1-9, Deut. 30:19). This generational unity has been broken many times, and ultimately Malachi 4:6 speaks of the Lord's intention for the generations to be reconciled: "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers."

What does this involve?

We are just beginning to understand that a whole generation his been broken by the fracture of the family, and the Lord intends to heal the brokenness within the church. This healing calls for repentance in many ways:

- the church needs to reestablish a healthy model for families centered in Christ
- the church needs to affirm the many broken people who have not experienced the love of their fathers or have been neglected by divorce
- the church needs to reach out to the orphans and widows of our time. For example, the foster care/adoption ministry is a great need
- the church needs to call for secular society to reestablish and build up healthy family models, and to oppose abortion, and other unhealthy models

How will this be integrated into the NE Alliance?

At this time we don't know how all of this will unfold, however, the call for repentance, healing, and reconciliation among the generations are key parts of this vision.

We are currently praying about what the Lord may want to do about this. We are also planning to have time during our NE Prayer Journey to share this vision and pray for healing, reconciliation, and generational unity. We will also expect to integrate this into to our October 4th six-state gathering.