There's something missing. Chances are if you're 19-34 years of age. It's you.
I love being a youth pastor. For the past 6 years I have done my best to teach, lead, care for, pray for those whom God has entrusted. I am humbled by what I have seen God do in the lives of those teenagers. I also know that I have been mostly responsible for only planting seeds, and may never fully see the magnitude of what God will continue to do in them, except maybe from a distance. I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is that when those teenager exit youth ministry they make a complete exodus from the church. If you take a snapshot of most churches they are missing. Not just the ones that I have directly had contact with over the last few years but a whole generation seems to be all but completely missing from the church body. It's part of my generation.
What does this mean?
For the missing: they go through years of life altering choices without trustful direction and support of a Church family and community, fall behind on God's plan and purpose in their life, and they miss out experiencing and sharing the greatest Love they could ever know.
For the church: Christ's bride is blemished, we fail in our responsibility to proclaim God's greatness to the next generation and leave it open to become prisoner to things that never fulfill, and the body is incomplete - unable to fully function as to fulfill God's purpose and further His Kingdom.
This burden has been lurking within my heart for some time now and after spending a couple of days with others who are finding their own burden for this, it is becoming more evident that this passion may be greater than I had first wanted it to be.
Some questions - talk to me. If you wish to remain anonymous you can e-mail me - alaredego@hotmail.com
For the missing: Why? What drew you away or what keeps you way? (not just from church but from the One who created you, loves you, and died for you)
For the Church: What's happening? How are we allowing this to happen? Does the responsibility fall on to us, youth pastors, who fail to get them connected in to the adult world of Christendom or does it fall on the rest of the congregational family. Is it simply just a prodigal son syndrome that has to take place? What do we do now?
1 comment:
Hey man, find those kids in the places where you know they dwell, and buy them a cheap meal in exchange for allowing you to poll them. You can find out a lot that way. Perhaps ask the ones who are still with you to tell you (annonymously) what draws them to the outer world.
I can tell you that during my college years I stopped going to churhc almost completely. I had a lot of fun and slept in on the weekends. I knew that I could go back whenever I chose, and eventually I did choose that. It was like knowing I could move back in with my parents whenever necessary...a security blanket if you will.
Perhaps the lure is the lure of fun without accountability. I was lucky in many ways that my lifestyle didn't catch up to me more than it did. I think kids would benefit from some very frank, true life examples of the costs of sex and drugs and drinking---and NOT just worst case scenarios. I always recognized the worse case stuff as perhaps a bit far out, and unlikely, and it failed to scare me much. By and large I avoided drugs, but sex and beer (to a point)...bring it on.
As a teacher I know that I cannot be completely candid with my students about these topics without crossing professional lines, but with my own children, I plan to be open & honest. I will tell them about sex with multiple partners BEFORE meeting their mother and how it compromises our relationship today by making us both a little less trusting. I have a great analogy for sex before marriage: it's like being given $1000 in January for buy a gift for person X. During the year you spend a little here and there, maybe for dinner, or to buy a little something for someone else. When the Christmas season arrives, you have $200 to spend on person X. How does that make them feel. How would you feel? I hope it give kids a clue, because they're so filled by the media with drugs, violence, sex, etc. that many think all that stuff is par for the course of their lives.
I hope this leads you in some direction. Teaching high school kids (I believe) keeps my perspective fresher, plus I still think a lot about when I was their age. Again, I hope this helps. Let me know if you'd like me to poll my students. I've got 75-ish who might like to share their opinions.
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