How to respond to the crisis
Some say America walked away from Christianity decades ago when church turned into habit and Christ became a religion.
For many, being a “Christian” is the family they were born into and simply why they try to live a “good life.”
The reality is that reaching this generation is more complex than trying to “get them back into youth group.” Teens are falling away from the saving knowledge of God’s love, and this trend has been happening for years, so we must be well equipped in our response.
So what can we do?
I believe that there are several principles that we need to follow in this rescue operation:
- Direction: Finding guidence and strength in the Lord
- Understanding: Knowing what makes this generation completely unique
- Relationships: Why we cannot rely on “programs”
- Turning points: Creating meaningful moments with teens
I’ll be addressing each of these in future blog posts. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to subscribe so you won’t miss a thing.
Update: All of the follow-up posts are now available–see links above.
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Posted in Rallying the Church Around Youth Ministry | 
Tags: Culture, Leadership, Outreach, Parenting, Youth Group Meetings
Word. Looking forward to these posts, Nate!
I think we need to change the way WE look a our faith too. Young people aren’t interested in religion, which is great ’cause I don’t think Jesus was real interested in religion either.
If we - the teachers, mentors, pastors, etc. - are still interested in religion, we’re not going to inspire young people. Dressing up religion with fun games and almost-cool music isn’t going to help reverse the crisis. It’s bait and switch, and they’re smarter than that.
Amen and amen, Lex.