This morning’s message is not for the congregation. This morning I am speaking to the 9 young people in both services who will be joining our church family in membership. The rest of you can listen in if you
want, but this is a holy word for you 5 - 4 new members in this service whom I have come to know and with whom I celebrate this day. This is a true story that appeared in our denominational church leaders’ magazine,
The Interpreter, 5 years ago.

The story is about Mrs. Coffee was born at the turn of the century - Aug. 26, 1900. When her pastor asked church leaders to park a block away from the church to free up nearby parking space for newcomers,
Mrs. Coffee dutifully parked off the premises and walked uphill with cane in one hand and Bible in the other. She drove her own car to church until 1997. Her pastor assured her that being 97 years old entitled her to park
her car as close to the church as possible. She said, “I thought a visitor might need that parking space.”

One Sunday her pastor had the idea to incorporate the newly formed praise team into the traditional 11 a.m. worship service. He naively thought this would be a good way to introduce people to the fledgling contemporary service. When the guitars, drums, keyboard and hand clapping started in the chancel, Mrs. Coffee covered her ears with her hands. She later met her pastor at the church door with tears in her
eyes. “I cannot stand that loud music in our church,” she said. The pastor started to explain and defend the band. “But Tyler has come back to church,“ Mrs. Coffee continued, eyes glistening. “He is going to play
guitar with that band. My prayers have been answered. Tyler is Mrs. Coffee’s thirty-something grandson. Raised in the church, he had slipped away as a young adult. “I cannot worship with all that noise,” she
admitted to the pastor. “But I am so glad we are doing it for those who like it.”

Mrs. Coffee knows what every UM congregation needs to know in p. 2 -the new century: we do not exist for ourselves, but to connect or reconnect others to Jesus. The gospel doesn’t change, but the ways we tell it will
always be changing.

On Aug. 26, 1999, the congregation at the traditional service sang “Happy Birthday” to Mrs. Coffee. She accepted the honor, but was much more interested in greeting the new college students seated two pews in
front of her. She wanted to be sure that they knew about the contemporary service with the guitars and drums.”

The Rev. Bill Easum, highly successful church pastor who built a huge church of many thousands of worshipers from a bankrupt almost dead small congegation and who for the past 15 years has been teaching
churches how to grow spiritually, has a favorite question for churches. “What will you sacrifice for the sake of the gospel?”

Think about that. In our scripture lesson this morning, Jesus has been resurrected and is preparing to ascend into heaven to join God. He has gathered his disciples around him and is giving his farewell speech.
These are the last words he will say to them here on earth. Jesus will no longer be with them in body, they will not longer see him in this form on earth, so these words are important. Of all the words that Jesus could have
said, what was the most important teaching or command Jesus could give to his followers before he left? Listen to his words. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

The most important words Jesus had for his followers then and has for us today is “make disciples.” Do you see why our mission statement for our church says “to make disciples?” Jesus said a lot of things and
taught his disciples much, but these are the most important words that we the church need to live by. Jesus says that we church people are about making disciples, that we are about sharing God’s saving grace through
Jesus Christ, and that we are expected to do this for the rest of our lives. Right now you are 12 and 13 years old, and given modern medicine and the awesome scientific discoveries that are being made
every day, you can expect to live into the 22nd century, the year 2100. You will probably live longer than Mrs. Coffee who lived to be over 100 years old. And so for the next 95 years, what will you sacrifice for the sake of
the gospel? Everything in this world, including how the church does worship p. 3 - and ministry will change, everything except the gospel, that Jesus died for sins and was raised on the third day. God’s love won’t change, but how we tell others about God’s love will. So what will you sacrifice, that is give up, so that others can hear about Jesus in their own language, in their own music, in the ways that speaks to them clearly about how much God loves them?

Christ has called you to be one of his disciples and you have answered that call. This morning you stand with the risen Christ on the mountain top has he gives you your instructions for following him. “Go
into the world and make disciples.” Are you ready? The rest of us are ready for you to join us so that together we can share in the work of Christ.