WACO—Pastor Steve Bezner of Houston challenged Gen Z and Millennial church leaders to pursue a vision based on the kingdom of God rather than American Christianity.
Bezner, senior pastor of Houston Northwest Church, spoke to a rally sponsored by The Pastor’s Common prior to Texas Baptists’ annual meeting in Waco, Nov. 10. About 200 young adults serving in ministry came together for a time of worship and fellowship.
“We’re doing this to remind pastors how much their ministry matters and how important having fellowships, friendships, accountability and encouragement is. Ministry isn’t easy, but it’s not meant to be done alone  It’s meant to be done in community. And that’s what we want to be,” David Miranda, former director of Texas Baptists’ Millennial/Gen Z Ministers Network, said at the rally
Miranda offered encouragement to the ministers and pastors at the event.
“Ministry is not easy. … This is the beauty of being a part of the convention, of being a part of a network. You can find friends in ministry who are going through the same things as you,” he said.
Bezner, author of Your Jesus is Too American, spoke about shepherding a congregation with a kingdom of God mindset, not a worldly one.
Many Christians are shaping their worldview based on media consumption, he said, and it is the church’s job to remind them of where Jesus’ message diverges from the voices of the media. Furthermore, he reminded attendees it is Christians’ job to bring the kingdom of God to places of brokenness.
“We need a gospel message that we can proclaim, but we also need a kingdom reality that we embody,” he said.
The church will not be transformed solely by preaching better sermons, but also by finding places of brokenness and bringing the hope of the kingdom of God there, Bezner said.
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He encouraged young Christian leaders to share the gospel as they serve broken people and to care about the world with a kingdom perspective.
“If we set aside an American Christianity and we pick up a kingdom vision of Christianity, we can actually end up making a far greater difference in our community and in our church than we ever anticipated,” he said.
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