All The Children Of The World (Part 6)

The Modern Day Exodus

(To catch up the previous posts in this series click on the Label, 'Dan's Thought Spot')

When we come to understand, even in a basic way, the biblical basis for youth ministry we begin to understand its importance as well.  Many church leaders in more countries than just Paraguay don’t understand the biblical basis for youth ministry nor do they appreciate its importance.  We are serving in Paraguay to champion youth ministry in the heart of South America.  One of the ways we can do this is by teaching others about its importance.  Among college-aged youth who have grown up in the church today there is a world-wide exodus from not only the local church, but also from the Christian faith.  I do not think that the term ‘exodus’ is too strong a word.  Recent studies show that more than half of young Christians are leaving the Church.  According to researcher David Kinnaman, author of the book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith, and president of the Barna Group, a non partisan research company, almost 60 percent of young people ages 15-29 have left active involvement in the local church.  Many of these youth will claim that they have not denied Christ but only the local church.  They often attribute their departure to the hypocrisy they have had to grow up with.   Spiritual pluralism and the modern day dissolve of Absolute Truth have so numbed many of our young people that they no longer realize rejecting Christ’s bride must mean the rejection the Groom as well. 

It breaks my heart to think that many of these who abandoned the corporate body of Christ in their youth will be among those who ask on the Last Day, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?”  Then Christ will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did not do it to me.’  By mentioning, ‘my brothers and sisters’, in this Matthew 25 passage Jesus specifies that faithfulness and compassion shown to members of the Christian community is the same as showing faithfulness to him.  Those who abandon the body of Christ (Christ’s brothers and sisters) will likewise be rejected on the Last Day.  Youth must understand that it is impossible to have a relationship with Christ and not His Church also. 

But ultimately it is our failure as the Church to carry out biblical youth ministry that has driven many of our young people away.  I must specify biblical youth ministry because never before in history have churches been so focused on reaching their youth through organized programs, camps, clubs, and special events.  So where did we go wrong???  What more could we have done!?!  This questioning has led some churches who once whole-heartedly embraced youth ministry to blame youth ministry itself and go to the extreme of abandoning it altogether.  But this response by church leaders is not that different from how our youth have responded by throwing out Church because of its hypocrisy.  No, youth ministry itself cannot be the cause of the exodus of our young people from the church- as we’ve established, youth ministry is a biblical mandate. 

But the ways in which the Church has sought to accomplish youth ministry have been flawed.  Two reasons I think that youth are abandoning the church today are because we have failed to engage with them in meaningful inter-generational relationships and failed to give them God’s Word as the only infallible source of Truth.   Ministries that segregate youth from the rest of the congregation have seriously inhibited the possibility for meaningful inter-generational relationships in the Church.  What’s more, the insidiously slow integration of Postmodernism and Popular Culture into the Church has sent our young people the message that truth is relative and its all about them.  The proof of these failures can be seen in the numbers... or more specifically the lack thereof. The Global Church is learning the hard way that nothing short of sincere relationship and pure Truth can keep our youth's allegiance.  And yet, whether we are in the fledgling Church in Paraguay or the tried Church in America it is not too late to begin engaging our youth in meaningful relationships and equipping them with God's Word.  I believe we will all be surprised to find, that's all they ever wanted.