As each school year ends, graduates, teachers, parents—people in general—are inclined to form some short-term and long-term plans for the future. Legacy recently supplied information from The Millennial Impact Report, sponsored by the CASE Foundation. It gave heartening information that among the Millennial employees (roughly those born 1980 through 2000), “84 percent made charitable donations in 2014, with 61 percent giving to three or more organizations.” The same survey found that “annually 70 percent of millennials spend at least one to 10 hours volunteering for a nonprofit, with more than one-third of the group volunteering 11 or more hours. And 71 percent of millennials reported they were willing to go out and physically fundraise on behalf of nonprofits they support.”¹

So much of the foregoing survey lends encouragement that the millennials (the largest generation currently in the US workplace) are individuals who care and are ready to step up and help others. That spirit reminds one of Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfil the law of Christ.” However, it should be noted that the primary thrust of all these good responses is directed to the physical or social needs of people. It is interesting to note that the central emphasis of the Abilene Christian Lectures after World War II was on evangelism! At least 70% of the lectures in the years of 1950-58 gave an emphasis on saving souls, climaxed in 1959 on the theme, “Unto All The World!” That year 24 of the lectures had to do with missions and evangelism!

Nationally, since World War II, a social gospel or humanism has been the general religious thrust. Has the Lord’s church been influenced by that emphasis?? Do we need to be reminded, as we follow in Christ’s footsteps (I Peter 2:21), that He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10)??

How many of your goals and how much does your emphasis parallel with Christ’s mission among men? Are you currently seeking to save some souls??

____________________________________________

¹Legacy Bulletin, Abilene Christian University, Spring, 2016, p. 1.