If it’s the gates of hell that aren’t prevailing, doesn’t that mean the church is storming the gates of hell?
Jesus isn’t talking about defense. He’s not saying, “Huddle up and I’ll protect you.” He’s on a white horse yelling “Charge!” and expecting us to follow him into the fires of hell to rescue his kids.
The church’s influence in our nation isn’t vanishing; it’s shifting—and that’s just one corner of what God’s doing around the world. Faith is rediscovering its fire. The comfortable majority may be gone, but comfort was never the goal, was it?
I think it was Tim Keller who said that Christianity always grows best when it’s seen as an alternative to the culture, not a reflection of it. Tertullian went further centuries earlier: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”
The pattern hasn’t changed—pressure purifies.
So what do we do? We storm the gates of hell.
• Show up. You don’t need a perfect church; just a posture of worship. Presence changes atmospheres.
• Invest deeply. Pour into one Gen Z believer. Ask what they see God doing. Listen before you lecture.
• Sing louder. Join the soundtrack of renewal. If worship is being reborn, lend your voice.
• Pray bigger. The gates of hell haven’t moved—maybe it’s time the church did.
This isn’t nostalgia; it’s assignment.
To the Elders
To the Gen X and Boomers reading this, I just want to take a moment and make a direct plea.
We need you.
Everything I wrote in the section above? We need it from you.
We need you to embrace what’s working to reach your kids and grandkids’ generations, even if it’s not goldilocks for you personally.
We need you to pray for young adults and young families.
We need you to serve in the kids ministry of your church so that these Gen Z parents can have a break, hear the gospel clearly, and most importantly, see how much we love their kids.