Church is boring!
Yesterday, we started talking about why kids are leaving the church. Today, we take a look at the second reason. Barna research says young people think that “church is boring.”* Some suggest “faith is not relevant to [their] career or interests,” “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” to help them, and many suggest “that ‘God [was] missing from [their] experience at church.’ ” Let’s dissect this. Church may be boring because some kids’ churches set bad examples of what the church is supposed to be like. They have funny songs, silly stories, and creative games that may or may not have any spiritual significance. Since they aren’t told about the most amazing gift of God, they can’t appreciate worship services. Our job is to make faith relevant and teach our kids about God’s amazing grace. *Based on “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church,” Barna.org
One reason kids are leaving the church
Barna Group research says there are five reasons why three in five kids leave the church after they’re fifteen.* First? They say churches “seem overprotective.” Most young people in the church want “their faith in Christ to connect to the world they live in.” Unfortunately, most youth groups do little to prepare them to engage the culture. Much of what they're learning is “stifling, fear-based and risk-averse.” Many believe “Christians demonize everything outside the church”—“ignoring problems of the real world”—and are “too concerned with movies, music, and video games that are harmful.” It’s hard when you read Scripture that says to be in the world but not of the world. What can change it? Relationship-building and discernment skills rather than scare tactics. Read Philippians 1:9 and 10. *Based on “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church,” Barna.org
Today’s kids are poised to leave the church.
Are you concerned your son or daughter might not stay in church when they become adults? Today, kids are becoming less and less engaged in our local churches. According to Barna research, three out of five young people fifteen years of age and older leave the church.* Why? Basically because they’re not being taught Scripture. They’re taught they need to be good people or make good choices—then they’ll get to heaven. When they’re teens, apart from Christ, they realize that they can’t make good choices. They understand the same is true for adults teaching them that. They don’t understand that they’re saved by grace through faith through Christ alone. What’s our role in all this? Don’t give up teaching Scripture. It’s our duty. Deuteronomy 6 tells us to teach them the Word diligently. Don’t leave it up to the church. *Based on “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church,” Barna.org
Drama. It comes with teenagers.
Are you a parent of teenagers? Teenage GIRLS? I’m a Dad to three girls, one still a teenager. Why is there always so much drama with teenage girls? You know the drama I’m talking about—girls in everybody else’s business, like your daughter’s friend having boy trouble, or a few friends are ignoring the other. While it seems trivial to us, it isn’t for them. How do I handle it? Sometimes not very well. But what I should do is listen and NOT try to fix everything. But it’s also important to point them to Scripture. Galatians 5:15 says, “if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another” (ESV). Loving one another is better.
Have your kids lost someone?
One of the most difficult things to see is your child grieving the death of somebody close to them—a friend or relative. It’s difficult for us adults, let alone kids. What do we say to them? How do we help them cope? The most important thing is to remind our kids that God is in control. Secondly, if the person who dies was a Christian, you can explain to them that they were immediately in the presence of God and, if they know Christ, they’ll see them again. The fact that these important people are missing makes it difficult. We need to tell our kids that it’s okay to grieve. After all, that’s why Lamentations was written, right? But, as Christians, we have hope, knowing God is the ultimate Healer.