Coming Soon: ‘Make It Your Ambition: 7 Godly Pursuits for the Next Generation’
The Gospel Coalition
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Imagine your local church 15 years from now. What’s the same? Maybe the facility you gather in. Hopefully, many of the people now with you are still there. People will have aged, children will have been born, new families will have started, and some will have died and gone to be with the Lord. Maybe you picture your church as relatively similar to how it is now but just a bit better. Perhaps your church will grow if it’s effective in sharing the gospel.
What appears in your mind’s eye when you think about your local church’s leadership? Who are its pastors and ministry leaders? Do you envision your current pastor there, opening the Scriptures, making much of Christ, leading, counseling, and ministering the gospel in your community? Who are the elders, deacons, ministry directors, and Bible study teachers?
I want you to think about your church 15 years from now because what your church will be then must be developed today. One study from 2020 found that the median age of congregational leaders in the United States is 57. I don’t mean to be grim, but that means more than half of the pastors leading local churches right now won’t be ministering in 15 years. NPR reported in November 2024 that churches in America were having a hard time finding qualified and gifted pastors. What will the situation be in 15 years?
As a pastor, I’m concerned. I want to see local churches flourish. I want them to be well resourced with solid leaders and enabled to continue faithfully in their communities. I want to see new churches planted where there’s little to no gospel witness. I want to see young men and women reject the social and cultural values of living for self and instead spend their lives living for God’s glory and their neighbors’ good, whatever vocation they work in.
I want to inspire the next generation to explore what a life marked by robust, gospel-fueled obedience can look like. So I’ve written a new book with The Gospel Coalition: Make It Your Ambition: 7 Godly Pursuits for the Next Generation.
Life Direction for the Next Generation
I’m not only a pastor thinking about the church’s future; I’m also the father of two teenagers who are pondering their future vocations. We like to ask our young children, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” In this book, I’m asking young adults a different question: “What do you want to do for the kingdom?”
In Make It Your Ambition, I call young adults to ambitions that every follower of Jesus should take up. In his epistles, Paul uses this phrase twice. In 1 Thessalonians 4:11 (NIV), Paul instructs the church, “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands.” He wants Christians’ lives to be godly whatever they do vocationally. Then, in Romans 15:20, Paul writes about his particular missionary calling and says, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named.” This book shows young people how to pursue both kinds of ambitions.
I lay out a pathway for young Christian lives that will result in godliness—love for God and love for fellow human beings—and in the gospel’s advance. As readers engage the seven godly pursuits, they’ll be challenged to measure the shape of their lives and discern God’s direction. They’ll also be practically equipped to take the next steps toward godly aims. With this book, my goal isn’t to call young adults only to career ministry in the local church but also to vocations in Christian missions, in campus ministry, and with other Christian organizations that seek to promote gospel advance and human flourishing.
The book is written for young adults, but it’s also an ideal resource for parents, youth ministers, pastors, Bible study leaders, teachers, and anyone working with young people to walk through with them. It’s designed for small groups or one-on-one discipleship; we’ve included discussion questions with each chapter to cultivate thoughtful conversations and practical application.
Preorder
The book releases on April 28, 2025, but you can preorder it now at TGC’s store, Amazon, and other retailers.
Table of Contents
Editors’ note:?
Youth and college ministry leaders are invited to a special breakfast gathering for next generation leaders at TGC25. We’ll meet Wednesday morning, April 23, from 7:30–8:30 a.m. in Rooms 101–103, and we’ll hear Jeremy Writebol speak about how to help the students in your ministries see their future careers as Christian vocations. Everyone who attends will receive a gift that includes a copy of Writebol’s new book, Make It Your Ambition. Register here for $20.
Jeremy Writebol is the lead campus pastor of Woodside Bible Church in Plymouth, Michigan, and the executive director of Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He is the author of several publications including Make It Your Ambition, Pastor, Jesus Is Enough, and everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present.
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1 小时前this is interesting and your concern is valid and true of our present times but Thank God all hope is not lost and just like it is written Isaiah 2:2..in the last days,?that?the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it...so the greater the scare of losing Young men that Live for God the greater the force of revival that will raise Men that burn genuninely for Christ and as someone who has enjoyed the grace and mercies of God am so happy to be part of that Generation ?? ..I'm eager to lay my hands on this book when it is out