I just returned from Romania where I had the privilege of preaching and leading a marriage seminar for M28 Church in Bucharest. The name is based on Colossians 1:28. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
Here, among the busy streets and historic buildings, I discovered a beacon of hope that defies the demographic trends sweeping across the Western world. M28 Church, a vibrant congregation planted just eight years ago by my friend Pastor Adi, tells a story.
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Pastor Adi, at 38, stands as one of the church's oldest members in a congregation overwhelmingly populated by youth.
On a Sunday night, 104 people gathered for a three-hour marriage seminar, listening intently (through translation) to a guy who could speak their language. Their patience and engagement was evidence of a deep hunger for biblical wisdom to make their marriages and families vibrant and strong.
As I began to understand the room's composition, the numbers painted a remarkable picture. When I asked couples married less than five years to stand, half the congregation rose. When I invited those married over 20 years to stand, the room remained seated.
But the most striking detail? Approximately 20 children under five years old sat quietly for 3 hours—remarkably different from the restless and overstimulated children I'd encountered in many American churches. It was as if they had been trained to sit quietly and comply with instructions of their parents.
That is when I realized I was involved in something profound. This young church pastored by a young pastor leading a young congregation had incredible potential to impact this part of the world for the gospel.
In the part of the world I live, so many young people are delaying marriage and having children that we have entered something referred to as demographic winter. In the United States, the total fertility rate has dropped to 1.64 children per woman—well below the 2.1 replacement rate needed to maintain population stability. Europe's numbers paint an even more stark picture of demographic winter.
But apparently, that is not the case at M28 church.
I'm not suggesting that having lots of children is inherently virtuous. As an only child—or a "recovering" only child, as I like to say—I understand the complexities. Many couples struggle with infertility, and my heart aches for their pain.
But what I saw at M28 church gave me hope. M28 Church sits in the middle of a Bucharest, a city with an evangelical population of 0.3%. But what if these young people continue to multiply through evangelism and procreation? Through birth and new birth? What if the love and joy within this gospel community became contagious?
Do you know God’s first command to mankind? Something to do with fruit, right? No it wasn’t, “Don’t eat the fruit.” That was the second command. The first was, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and subdue it.” This wasn’t about population metrics, but about creating, nurturing, and transforming the world around us.
My prayer for M28 Church—and for churches everywhere—is a revival of covenant marriages. Spaces where children are not just born, but loved, nurtured, and taught the gospel. Where demographic winter begins to thaw. Where family becomes not just tolerable, but beautiful and meaningful, even cool and desirable.
May there be a revival of young people pursuing covenant marriage which provides the safest place for children to be nurtured and evangelized. Where families become an onramp into the family of God.
May the next generation make family cool again.
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