My passion is to develop lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. The key to that being that they begin their relationship with Jesus as a teenager and continue it through college and onto adulthood. There is a crisis in the American church in that the vast majorities of students who attend church in their teenage years are dropping out of church as they enter college. A recent Rainier Research statistic discovered that 70 percent of young adults drop out of church by the time they are 22. That number jumps to 80 percent by the time they are 30. What is wrong that is causing this exodus? In my opinion, it is the lack of consistency in the lives of our churched youth.
Until recently, the average term of a youth pastor in the United States was only 18 months(there has been a slight upward trend). An 18 month term means an 18 month relationship. Assuming students are in youth ministry from the sixth grade, they would have 4.67 youth pastors in their seven years in youth group. This is hardly a model of consistency.
It is my desire to find a church home that is willing to invest consistency in the lives of their teenagers. Yes, invest consistency. It isn't about money and it isn't about programs. It is about the consistent relationships that are formed between the church and these kids. The kind of relationships that they can take to college and return to when they graduate. If the church is nothing but a revolving door, our kids will sneak in and sneak out of it. But if the church is a relationship...if it is a reunion of relationships...if it is consistent and models Christ's relationship with us, they are much more likely to be consistent in their relationship with the church and with Jesus Christ.
In part 2 I will write about the importance of corporate worship in the lives of teenagers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment