Welcome to Traverse!
Bridges are a common feature in our everyday environments. I would guess that you've traversed across a bridge, if not several bridges, in the past couple of days. We often don’t even notice them. Some bridges are built for beauty, some for convenience, but others are built out of crucial necessity.
Traverse is a three-year special project for Sonlife on intergenerational disciple-making in the church. Traverse is about bridges. Statistically, the gap between generations has never been more expansive, and the impact it's had on the church in North America is profound. If the plan of Jesus to reach the nations was person-to-person through the process of disciple-making, a widening generation gap makes this increasingly difficult. And frustrating. And maddening. It can lead us to point fingers instead of building bridges.
Bridge construction is always evolving as both a science and art. Engineers are in perpetual pursuit of sturdier materials, heavier machinery, and new building techniques. Although constructing bridges are a lot easier now in modern times, bridge engineering involves the same core process of precise physics, vast resources, and thorough planning before and during construction. The same is true with building bridges to cross the generation gap. The problem and the process isn't new.
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in the place of exercise." - Socrates (469–399 B.C)
Generational values and differences will always be around. The work of building, repairing, and maintaining bridges towards each other will always be ongoing. We are convinced that now is the time to evaluate a new bridge for a new generation.
Bridges don't go up quickly. They take planning, precision, and careful execution. That's why Traverse is a three-year initiative.
We have two key objectives.
First, we want to get to the heart of the young leader--what they desire, what they need, and what they don't yet know that they need--and build bridges toward them. We want to specifically engage them with the mission of disciple-making in ways that are helpful, effective and stir up their affection for Jesus.
Investing in young leaders is Sonlife's historical roots. For the past 43 years, Sonlife has equipped ministry leaders. We want to renew our focus and energy to deepen our impact while keeping our mission and vision as guiding principles.
Second, we want to equip those in the church of any age to be bridge-builders. We want to help train and inspire the Body of Christ with the theology, tools, and vision they need to be effective disciple-makers of people who are different from them.
What's the first step?
Phase one of this project will be conducting what we are calling "Listening Tours" across North America for young (ages 20-35) ministry leaders. We want to hear directly from these leaders and have a clear idea of where the true gaps lie. We've strategically picked three cities for 2021 and plan to have each group for a 24 hour 'listening' and training retreat.
During this retreat, we will look at these 5 Traverse principles
Know the landscape
What is going on at the ground level in our churches? How is the cultural climate we live in changing, and what effect does that have (or should it have) on the mission of the church? Before a bridge is built, the landscape it is being built on, and the environmental factors the bridge will need to withstand is of first importance. This is the first place we will start.
Know the people
On either side of a bridge is a community of people, made in the image of God, that is separated from each other. Before we try to build a bridge, we must understand how the bridge will affect them. Do they want a bridge? Do they need one to thrive? For us, this step looks like asking the questions, “Are the generations currently working well together to accomplish the mission of Christ? Where are the gaps, and why are they there?”
Leaders need to understand the people on both sides and evaluate and appreciate the strengths and resources they bring. Historically, missionaries have had a unique advantage as they’ve been trained to see differing cultures through gospel lenses. Today's leaders need this same cultural intelligence and Biblical conviction to navigate the changing diverse human landscape.
While plenty of research has been done in secular contexts to expose generational differences in our current day, at Sonlife, we are particularly interested in how those differences are playing out and affecting Jesus’s mission of disciple-making in local churches. We want to listen, observe, and hear directly from church leaders themselves.
Know the grand design
Have you ever seen an architect rendering? They are made to be beautiful and compelling drawings of a finished product. They don’t tell you how to build it, what you will need, or what the cost will be. All they do is give you a vision---a picture to keep coming back to of what the desired outcome is. Our desired outcome as followers of Jesus is to be disciples that make disciples as outposts of the Kingdom of God. How is our Kingdom intelligence? Do we possess, in our minds and hearts, a clear rendering of what the Kingdom is and should look like? Kingdom intelligence is the starting point in making resilient, disciple-making leaders. Jesus’ rendering of the Kingdom is found all throughout the gospels (as well as the Bible from beginning to end), and studying it will be a key ingredient in the time we spend with emerging leaders. We need a clear picture of the desired outcome before engineering a path to get there.
Know the blueprint (what are the steps)
Like a master builder trains their apprentice workers, we will take time to layout Jesus' blueprint of disciple-making as citizens of his Kingdom. Despite the complex world we live in, He has already given us everything we need. Deepening the inner character and priorities of ministry leaders takes time. During our listening tour, we will not only identify gaps but use this strategic time to break ground and set foundational pillars based on the kingdom agenda of Jesus. Good blueprints eliminate confusion and bring clarity.
Know when to celebrate
Cue the fireworks. Not too early in the day, and they lose their brilliance, and a day late, you'll miss the crowds. That would be a loss of investment that was intended for the fourth of July. Leaders need to measure progress and work hard to complete the project with the results of disciple-making bridges. But what does it look like to measure progress with kingdom values as opposed to worldly ones? We’ll discuss that together, and conclude our listening tour with a worship experience to reflect our praise to God -- it's all about His glory. This is an intentional conclusion to our time together.
Who is invited for the Phase One Listening Tours?
We believe today's emerging generation possess more potential to make an impact in this world than any generation before, but in order for them to become this kind of change agent, we must be crazy enough to think differently about how to build bridges.
We want to have a cross-section of ministry leaders across North America. It is our goal to collect data and assess the pulse of younger leaders today. We are specifically targeting 20-35-year-olds across 3 cities in North America for the first 3 listening tour experiences. The invites will be curated from area ministry leaders, Sonlife staff, and networking relationships. Our goal is to have 20 participants in each city to provide a hospitable and personal experience.
The power of investment
When Nehemiah saw that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, he began to weep. He wept because of what that broken-down city said to a watching world about the glory of God. There is much to make our hearts heavy as we survey the Body of Christ in North America today, but there is also much to celebrate! And just like Nehemiah, we can build. Now, what do we need for this project?
We need practitioners. The thing we need most in phase one are people. We need leaders among God’s people who love the church to share their experiences and hearts with us. We need practitioners, those who are in the trenches of local church ministry and can describe the landscape and people to us. We need their wise input before we start working on a blueprint. Will you pray God connects our team to the right contacts?
We also need investors. Nehemiah needed lumber and nails, which the king graciously supplied to him. We need meals, meeting spaces, and hotel rooms for leaders that travel to be with us. Not only do we desire to hear from them, we also want the 24-hour listening tour to be a time where we can encourage, equip, and pour into these young leaders. In a year that has tested the endurance of so many in ministry, our prayer is that our time with them can feel like an oasis--where they walk away feeling understood, refreshed, and trained. For this reason, our desire is to subsidize the cost for them to attend.
These tours are incredibly strategic for us as an organization. As we continue to pursue our mission of coming alongside local churches as they make disciples like Jesus, it’s essential that we are in step with their current struggles and challenges. Covid has changed so much, as well as politics, cultural pressures, and changing demographics. We don’t want to just read statistics and make generalizations, we want to sit with God’s people in personal ways, hear their hearts, equip them with practical skills and chart a path forward. For the glory of God by making multiplying disciples for the thriving of His church.
Will you join us in funding this special project?
We are both thrilled and humbled as an organization to be situated in a way to take on a task like this. And just like all of our ministry with Sonlife, we cannot do it without the undergirding of God's people. You can support the Traverse project by:
- Sponsoring a young leader to participate in a listening tour-$150
- Sponsoring a listening tour city location- $4,000
- Giving any amount to our Traverse general fund!
Traverse wants to impact the lives of 60 ministry leaders through this initiative. Please consider building the bridge with us.
We believe today's emerging generations (Millennial/GenZ) possess more potential to make an impact in this world than any generation before. BUT -- in order for them to become these kinds of change agents, we must be crazy enough to think differently and build the bridge.
MISSION of Sonlife: Equipping leaders in relational disciple-making according to the Son’s life.
VISION of Sonlife: Transforming the culture of ministry in North America restoring it to the disciple-making heart of Jesus.