Resources/Articles
What a Young Person in Christ is Facing Today
Romans 1.18-32 states how a person can know of God, yet desire another direction in life, which is their vain reasoning, a senseless and foolish heart. In this passage are the attitudes and actions resulting in subjective, selfish lusts, and a God-less lifestyle.
This passage alone would answer the question of why few young people become Christians, or why young people as Christians are leaving their faith. Those two questions are asked more and more often, and many survey groups and youth psychologists are weighing in on what is happening. For example, a Christian foundation interviewed college-aged “nonbelievers” about how and why they left religion. One response was, “Church became all about ceremony, handholding, and Kumbaya. I missed my old youth pastor. He actually knew the Bible.”
There was a nationwide campaign to interview college students who are members of Secular Student Alliances (SSA) or Freethought Societies (FS), which is the atheist equivalent to Campus Crusade for Christ. These groups meet regularly for fellowship and encourages its members in their unbelief. They are not merely irreligious; they are actively determined to be irreligious. Members of these groups were contacted to be involved in a study to tell of their journeys toward unbelief. Some gave rational and objective answers to the questions. Others used their scientific knowledge to answer. Others reached into their “exploring” of other religions to respond. For many, between ages 14 and 17 is when they came to slowly embrace unbelief. Why? Here are some of their reasons.
Youth ministry is shallow and too entertainment-focused (55%). Thirty-seven percent of these students believed that youth group programs are not actually biblical (Survey from US-based National Center for Family-Integrated Churches - NCFIC).
Churches may believe on the surface that teaching the Bible is most important, but many churches - and Christians - do not really read scripture to support faith. Faith does not come from a game, party, trips, or youth ministry. Faith does not come but from one source - hearing scripture (Deuteronomy 6.6-7; Romans 10.17).
Trying to “relate” to young people and make them comfortable (casual or informal) is not the objective of scripture or the church. Such an attitude robs God of His glory and finds fewer who desire to please and give service to Him. Just because a child is more socialized and playful doesn’t mean he/she will have greater faith. Socialization and playing do not give them the answers they need for life, except in worldly learning, which is most often not parallel with the whole counsel of God. The young people in this survey are saying, “Play less. Teach more.”
The church offers superficial answers to life’s difficult questions. When questions about evolution vs. creation, sexuality, identity, the reliability of biblical text, Jesus as the only way, etc. came up, students thought they would find the answer in the church. What they found particularly in a worship service is how shallow and boring it is. There was not any solid spiritual ground upon which to stand. Answers were subjective. “The choice is all up to you. You have to answer this for yourself.”
God gave Israelite parents the answer to a question He knew the parents would be asked in Deuteronomy 6.20-25. God prepared them. Every set of parents was ready. The nation stood or faltered based upon the right or wrong answer given by the parents. If a church is not the pillar and ground of the truth, ready to give teaching, and prepared to answer questions, she stands to lose many more young people in the future.
The three greatest questions of life need to be answered: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? The first one some answer with “it doesn’t matter,” but it does in Isaiah 45.18. To the second one, some say, “I don’t know. I don’t care.” But they should, according to 2 Corinthians 5.10-11. Every question needs God’s wisdom in order for young people to be rich and full in faith, doubting nothing.
The mission and message of their churches were vague. Many young people leaving their faith have heard plenty of messages on moral subjects from dating issues to “social justice” to drug and alcohol addiction. The problem some have is seldom seeing the relationship between that message, Jesus Christ, and the Bible. One student in the survey said, “The connection between Jesus and a person’s life was not clear.” This person’s question related to the existence of God and the church. They were perceiving the church as an institution whose sole objective was to address social problems in our country. This same student thought the purpose of the church was to proclaim the teachings of its founder, Jesus Christ, and the relevance of those teachings to the world. This student saw little incentive to stay with faith and placed more importance upon being a good person and well-rounded citizen in the community.
The above situation raises a question which needs a biblical answer: What is the Church? It is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1.22-23) of holy, saved people (Ephesians 5.23-27). The church is a predestined, eternal thought in the mind of God (Ephesians 3.9-11). This body of saved people in Christ have a mission in the world to teach the need for salvation from sin (Ephesians 4.11-16). The relevancy of that teaching to daily life is found in Ephesians 4.17-6.20. Our relationships reach excellence when we follow God’s pattern and commit to those responsibilities. Many of the moral questions and issues in our society are resolved when people are redeemed from sin and added to the body of the saved - the church.
To be continued....
