Already Gone
Posted in Mike's Posts 2 comments
My wife recently read a book called Already Gone by Ken Ham. It is subtitled "why your kids quit church and what you can do to stop it." While I have not read it, we had many conversations about it and one of the points he makes is that they are gone way before the teenage years when they lose interest. It is a book about world-view and parenting and much more.
We cannot avoid the staggering statistics that say anywhere between 70 and 90% of students that graduate from youth ministry will not be active within 2 years of graduation. It is a stat that hurts me and that is incredibly discouraging to people that work with students. I have found, from many years of ministry, that the students we have engaged have a much better retention rate. Heck, I graduate kids every year and recognize them in our graduates service... and that morning is the first time I have ever met them. Did we lose them? Did we ever have them?
What hurts even more is when we are engaging students, and doing all we can to do something and there is no response. There are so many students who come to church but are not engaged at all. There are as many who we contact regularly, but are simply not interested in God. What is the chance of them walking with Jesus for a lifetime. In my opinion, very little, since they have never started walking with Him.
The call of Jesus is not simply a decision, or an event... it is a lifetime process.
God, give me words to say to students to engage them in worship and in Your Word, and in relationship with the Lord of the universe.
We cannot avoid the staggering statistics that say anywhere between 70 and 90% of students that graduate from youth ministry will not be active within 2 years of graduation. It is a stat that hurts me and that is incredibly discouraging to people that work with students. I have found, from many years of ministry, that the students we have engaged have a much better retention rate. Heck, I graduate kids every year and recognize them in our graduates service... and that morning is the first time I have ever met them. Did we lose them? Did we ever have them?
What hurts even more is when we are engaging students, and doing all we can to do something and there is no response. There are so many students who come to church but are not engaged at all. There are as many who we contact regularly, but are simply not interested in God. What is the chance of them walking with Jesus for a lifetime. In my opinion, very little, since they have never started walking with Him.
The call of Jesus is not simply a decision, or an event... it is a lifetime process.
God, give me words to say to students to engage them in worship and in Your Word, and in relationship with the Lord of the universe.
2 comments:
Truly engaging is a pretty challenging thing to do. I've heard that statistic before and I think one way to get ahead of that is by the teaching of apologetics earlier on. To get to more of the meat and potatoes of the faith before they are tossed out on their own. We should be getting parents and churches alike to talk about these things in the home. I think some hesitate because they feel that they themselves may not have a solid enough answer to some of their questions. It's easy to be intimidated or want to stay away from those conversations for fear of lively debate on a topic that one doesn't have commanding or authoritative background in to defend. However the home is the safest place and when those questions do arise that a parent or mentor can't answer then there is the opportunity to admit that and then go search it out for themselves which in turn will reinforce their faith as well. Too many students go off to college thinking their parents are idiots and less intelligent or reliable sources of information then their college professors. The professors may have some subject matter expertise, but the life experience and wisdom of the parents should be counted still too. Especially because some of those professors have very noticable agendas of tearing down the christian perspective and faith of any students that will listen and by any means. Considering teens and young adults are already predisposed to think what their parents have to say carries less weight than this supposed authority of information then they're more likely to just take it in without question or discernment. John Lennox talks about how he was given the opportunity for these discussions in the home and about how that openness to discuss and delve into the tough questions at an early age helped those roots of faith to grow deep so that he could face those attacks on the faith that eventually come.
The hurdle of how to draw in the students and engage them in the first place is a tough one. What drew me was seeing the genuine love displayed by my own pastor towards his kids and all of their friends. I'm not sure there was a place I felt more welcome, truly accepted and encouraged than their house. That type of unconditional and uplifting love just has a way of leaving a mark that can never be erased or ignored. I grew up in a Christian home even and there was still a great contrast to this example and my own home life. If we could welcome in and share love with those kids whose families don't provide that at all then I think we have a chance to keep them engaged because of how much they long for that acceptance, kindness and love which they're not getting in a healthy family.
I love Ken Ham and I had no idea that he had written any books! I've already added his "The New Answers" books to my wish list now that I know they're out there. I'm sure they'll be great books to answer those tough apologetics questions that Red Beard is talking about in his comment.
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