A feature of youth culture today is the site party, semi - spontaneous gatherings of people who rave and chill together in a field, under a motorway bridge, in a warehouse ...wherever!

A couple of millennia ago the J Generation founder- a youngster called Jesus - saw the crowds, went up a mountain and sat down. What followed was a site party of historic significance.

OK, there wasn't a rave, but people raved on as Jesus unravelled the vision of the kingdom of God's love, "the crowds were amazed...because He taught as someone who knew what He was on about and not as their religious teachers" (Matthew 7:28-29).

History called this event "the sermon on the mount" which sounds like stuffy religion: actually it was the electric beginnings of a people's movement headed by the Son of God Himself.

Today's J Generation are carrying the radical flame on into the culture of 21C. The system is trapped in a vicious circle- selfishness, sin, death; round and round and down the plughole.

We refuse to be pulled in to the downward spiral. We're into the new birth that Jesus gives. We're a kingdom of God "pilot project"; like a show home on a new housing estate, we want people to see in our lifestyle a sign of the Kingdom that's coming when Jesus returns (James 1: 14-18).

METAMORPHOSIS

A caterpillar completely dissolves in its chrysalis before the butterfly is formed and emerges- a new creature. In the same way, we live a completely new way- our old selfish way is "dissolved"- "the old has gone, the new has come". (2 Corinthians 5: 17)

So we refuse to swallow the lies of a diseased culture. Another "meta" word is "metanoia"- the Greek word for "repent" - the word that Jesus used. (Matthew 4: 17). It means "changed mind". We have changed our minds about what the world says is cool (Romans 12: 2).

So we trade up our Hilfiger and Nike for a red cross. Life is the label, not fashion victim. We sack our braindead amusements ("amuse" literally means "without thought"). We pull the plug on Playstations and MTV. Forget it! We're on a holy mission and time is short!

We give up the "do my own thing" mentality and live accountable in the brotherhood. We jettison our "get rich" ambitions and share everything in the cause. We're committed to everything Jesus is into. His cross has crossed out everything else (Galatians 6: 14-16).

We want to be a prophetic sign to our generation so that more and more can come in and be part of God's great everlasting site party!

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