Bible Question:
This is something that I've grappled with for a long time. As Christians, we've experienced spiritual growth, either as adults being saved or as children and young adults experiencing the joy of Christ. However, and I'll be blunt, I think we could do a better job raising our children to be followers of Christ. Let me explain: I am not questioning nor bashing anyone's parental skills; I am not saying that such and such or whoever is a "bad parent"; I'm speaking specifically in the church family. As Christians, we have a responsibility to raise our youth, to help guide them and nnourish them, to help support them and influence them positively. Our greatest resource is our children. What pains me sometimes is that I've been to a few churches where the emphasis has NOT been on children. It stinks, and it's the quickest way to iradicate a generation: Not treating our youth the way the God we love and cherish treats HIS. One church that I have been to, it used to be that once you reach a certain age, you were basically considered "on your own". They have made leaps and bounds above that, starting a couple youth young adult ministries, and I feel extremely blessed at watching (and being a part of) them. What do I mean by "on their own"? The number of teens and young adults in a few churches that I have frequented is alarmingly small, and when I inquired about this, their response was mostly "because the church doesn't really help us out". Now, I know I'm making a sweeping generalization, and if your church doesn't act this way, then you won't really be offended by my words (you can give me some insight), and if you are offended, well, you'll get over it, because my purpose is not to offend. I'm not here to smooth anyone's feelings; I'm here to make an observation based on my (albeit limited) experience. My question, then, is this: I'd like for people to chime in and give me an answer to this problem that has worked, or even if they have experienced it before. I'm not just talking about Bible study and church, and maybe a couple of youth events that get the youth involved, but don't give them a forum to relate to, or a church body to grow in. Some people don't know that our youth are not stupid; some have gotten extremely distrustful of people within church, thinking some people are frontin'. And please keep the "well, it doesn't happen at MY church, so there" to a minimum, because it doesn't help out the situation. I'd like to hear everyone's comments on this :-) |
Bible Answer: Any congregation (and any denomination) needs to assess its priorities. I was strongly impressed by a recent newsletter I received from a cross-cultural missionary whose team is looking into their recruitment strategies, since these will limit or extend the kinds of people they will attract and minister to. I believe it's important for the church as a whole not to target certain groups and leave others out. Although it's natural to build larger programs for groups with wider representation within the congregation (responding to present needs), this can neglect the importance of outreach, proclamation and disciptleship of those whom God brings to us. The natural progression of such mere reaction to present needs is an ingrown church that declines after the present generation. |