Be transformed

BY JORDAN LANGNESS

For the past several cycles of FLY Beyond, I have had a front-row seat to watching the week come together as a participant in the planning team. I can’t say that I have a favorite theme from those years since each one has stood out in some special way. But the theme of this year’s event is noteworthy to me because of how practical and applicable it is to every believer on a daily basis.

Our theme, “Be Transformed,” comes from Romans 12:1–2. As the planning team worked on developing the theme for the week, we wanted to dive into the process of transformation and explore areas of our lives where this transformation is evident. We landed on four core areas of our lives where this process occurs: the soul (our salvation), the heart (our desires), the mind (our thoughts), and the body (our actions). Every follower of Jesus experiences the Holy Spirit’s influence in these areas of their lives, leading to visible change as we continue in the process of sanctification.

Transformation in and of itself is no small thing. In fact, once the process of transformation is complete, the original “thing” no longer exists because it has changed into something entirely new. That is what we see in the word “transformed” in our theme verse. Paul, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, was led to write the word metamorphoō to help us understand that new life in Christ is just that: a whole new life. This idea is echoed in passages like Galatians 2:20 and II Corinthians 5:17, where Paul writes to believers about having an entirely new life in Christ, something totally different than whatever existed before. God, according to his grace, gives us new hearts, new desires, a new understanding of the world we inhabit, and a new ability to live by the Spirit instead of living by the flesh.

It is a wonderful thing to recognize that this gift of new life is available to us. But God’s goodness doesn’t stop there. It is realized by who does this work of transformation. Similar to a house that undergoes a massive renovation, our lives are the object undergoing the transformation, not the agent doing the transformation. Tirelessly pursuing self-improvement and self-actualization is not our task. Yes, as the Greek word implies, we are called to be continuously transformed. But the only role we play in this process is getting ourselves out of the way by not resisting the work that the Holy Spirit is doing in us. Instead, we rest in the fact that God is at work and will continue that work until its completion.

Background planning details are not the liveliest literature you could read, but what we were wrestling through serves as the foundation on which the week of training and equipping teens was built. It was this idea of transformation that guided the formation of our morning Bible study content as we explored Bible characters whose lives clearly displayed these traits of transformation. This theme also focused our practical training on and exposure to topics such as identity, the significance of congregational life, the truth about truth, how the reality of Christ informs our understanding of the morality behind the issue of abortion, and ways we can prepare ourselves to faithfully engage with the world that surrounds us. It was a full week of wonderful content that challenged, encouraged, and inspired all who attended.

With FLY Beyond now in the rear-view mirror, it is possible to reflect on some of the things that the Lord did. I rejoice in the late-night conversations where teens wrestled with how God’s Word informs our understanding of difficult cultural issues. I celebrate watching students and young leaders as they eagerly participated in opportunities that allowed them to try new areas of ministry, test their ability to lead, and be equipped and encouraged to serve in their home congregations. Most significantly, I rejoice in seeing God’s hand prepare a new generation of believers that he will use to continue to grow his kingdom and transform the world as we seek to “Be Transformed.”

Jordan Langness, the youth and family ministry director at Hope Free Evangelical Lutheran, Ishpeming Mich., is the FLY Beyond Planning Team chair and AFLC Youth Ministries training coordinator.