Stand Up
Be a role model for what it takes to follow Jesus
…the next generation in our churches is in a serious state. There’s no shortage of frightening statistics—some of which get passed around and embellished until no one knows where they originated: (Insert huge number here) percent of children raised in Christian families leave church at age 18, never to return1.
What’s really happening? It’s true that life is throwing a lot at our children, our teens, our young adults, and it’s pretty easy to succumb to the cultural norm. Easier to give up than to stand up.
On top of that, why should churched young people stand up against cultural pressures and walk with Jesus if the believing adults in their lives aren’t always modeling those kinds of lifestyle choices too?
Says Shane Stacey, director of EFCA ReachStudents: “I agree with author/pastor Kenda Creasy Dean, who says that all these statistics about youth leaving the faith are more an indictment on the church and on parents than they are on youth. Students are simply taking hold of the faith that has been passed to them.”
Ouch.
And others agree. “The problem at hand is our own faith and the lives we’ve modeled as ‘followers of Jesus’. . . ,” writes youth-pastor-turned-seminarian Andy Gill2. “What we model is not Jesus. It’s barely even biblical.”
Each of these Christian leaders paints a harsh picture, pointing at us as the reason our young people don’t see a compelling alternative to the culture surrounding them. Still, not all youth are giving up or giving in. In our churches, some amazing young people are standing up against cultural pressure and choosing to walk with Jesus. And in most cases, those making the tough choices are following in the footsteps of some loving adults. Let’s meet a few of them in this issue of EFCA Today and explore how we, too, can stand up and be the kind of adults who model a passion for Jesus that’s contagious.
- 1 Actually, well-researched stats are telling a different story. In his excellent article “The Sky Is Not Falling!” (March-April 2013 Group magazine), Dr. Timothy Paul Jones refers to the biannual General Social Survey, which reports: The percentage of young adults who say “religion is an important part of [my] daily life” has risen from 60 percent in 2010 to 67 percent in 2012. And the number attending weekly worship services has risen steadily since 2000. (The General Social Survey is conducted by NORC, a social science research center at the University of Chicago.)
- 2 “The State of Youth Ministry: Why we are failing as youth pastors,” by Andy Gill at youthmin.org, August 2012.
Stand Up
The next generation in our churches is in a serious state. There’s no shortage of frightening statistics—some of which get passed around and embellished until no one knows where they originated: (Insert huge number here) percent of children raised in Christian families leave church at age 18, never to return.
What’s really happening? It’s true that life is throwing a lot at our children, our teens, our young adults, and it’s pretty easy to succumb to the cultural norm. Easier to give up than to stand up.
On top of that, why should churched young people stand up against cultural pressures and walk with Jesus if the believing adults in their lives aren’t always modeling those kinds of lifestyle choices too?
Says Shane Stacey, director of EFCA ReachStudents: “I agree with author/pastor Kenda Creasy Dean, who says that all these statistics about youth leaving the faith are more an indictment on the church and on parents than they are on youth. Students are simply taking hold of the faith that has been passed to them.”
Ouch.
And others agree. “The problem at hand is our own faith and the lives we’ve modeled as ‘followers of Jesus’… ,” writes youth-pastor-turned-seminarian Andy Gill2. “What we model is not Jesus. It’s barely even biblical.”
Each of these Christian leaders paints a harsh picture, pointing at us as the reason our young people don’t see a compelling alternative to the culture surrounding them. Still, not all youth are giving up or giving in. In our churches, some amazing young people are standing up against cultural pressure and choosing to walk with Jesus. And in most cases, those making the tough choices are following in the footsteps of some loving adults. Let’s meet a few of them in this issue of EFCA Today and explore how we, too, can stand up and be the kind of adults who model a passion for Jesus that’s contagious.
- Actually, well-researched stats are telling a different story. In his excellent article “The Sky Is Not Falling!” (March-April 2013 Group magazine), Dr. Timothy Paul Jones refers to the biannual General Social Survey, which reports: The percentage of young adults who say “religion is an important part of [my] daily life” has risen from 60 percent in 2010 to 67 percent in 2012. And the number attending weekly worship services has risen steadily since 2000. (The General Social Survey is conducted by NORC, a social science research center at the University of Chicago.)
- “The State of Youth Ministry: Why we are failing as youth pastors,” by Andy Gill at youthmin.org, August 2012.