George Barna is a seasoned pollster and director of the Barna Group. His group’s survey results in 2006 reveal some disturbing trends. Listed below are three of the twelve most significant findings this year.
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Only 15% of those who regularly attend a Christian church ranked their relationship with God as the top priority in their life.
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61% of today’s young adults (churched at one point during their teen years) are spiritually disengaged (i.e., not actively attending church, reading the Bible, or praying). Only 1/5th of twentysomethings (20%) have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences.
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75% of teenagers engaged in at least one type of psychic or witchcraft-related activity . . . fewer than 30% had received any teaching from their church about elements of the supernatural.
What disturbs me about these statistics is that they are a harbinger of disaster for our future if you believe as I do, that what happens with and to our youth is critical for the world’s future. Here are some thoughts to ponder:
1. If 85% of those who regularly attend church do not place God as the top priority in their life, then guess what message young people are observing first-hand—God is not that important.
2. I would contend that the 61% of those in their 20’s who are spiritually disengaged had weak habits to begin with in the area of Bible reading, prayer and regular fellowship. I say this because most churches philosophically tap the youth pastor and the youth group as the key to the spiritual development of their children. The problem with this philosophy is:
a. Parents may relinquish or shirk their responsibility and privilege to disciple their children at home and in every venue possible—Deuteronomy 6:5-7.
b. It unfairly burdens one youth pastor with the expectation of training all the youth which means this person must have significant skills in the area of delegation, training, teaching, planning, coordinating, resourcing, etc.
c. Most youth pastors are not trained to be disciplemakers. Few seminaries and Bible Colleges offer strong discipleship training which means we are churning out leaders strong in knowing how to promote activities and media/technology-savvy, but impoverished when it comes to in-depth training.
d. Most youth groups promote activities that favor recruiting those who are unchurched or entertaining those who are churched at once-a-week programs or events. Instead of challenging our youth we are molly-coddling them and then we wonder why they have no depth in Christ! Children who understand that faith costs and yet is highly rewarding because God is real and awesome are much better prepared for life-long service than are those who participate in activities which often mirror the world and do not speak to the inner needs and hunger of the soul. The church in China is numerically exploding under persecution while the church in America is imploding under amusement.
e. Youth groups tend to be age-segregated which means young men and women are missing the input and wisdom of seniors, working adults, and others at different yet meaningful stages of life.
3. The number of Americans now engaged in witchcraft or psychic activity is sky-rocketing yet the church is strangely mute about the mystic darkness Satan perpetuates. If we don’t wake up and warn our children to the dangers that proliferate in an increasingly Jesus-hostile land, we are basically sending them out into a field of land mines while we close our eyes and hope they don’t misstep! So what is the solution?
Meditation
1 Timothy 4:12—Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life [behavior], in love, in faith and in purity.
Most Bible scholars think Timothy was about 17 years old when Paul recruited him to his team. Paul saw in him a heart for God. Notice the high standards Paul expected of him in the verse above. He called on Timothy to set the example in five key areas—speech, behavior, love, faith and purity. What he expected of Timothy, he practiced in his own life.
One of the most tragic occurrences in life is a shrinking heart. The fresh love a person has at a tender age for God should not become twisted, disdained or set aside for some take-your-pick worldly obsession. Like Paul, we must determine to love God. We must model and believe passionately in regular time studying His Word, frequent heavenly communication, customary time for stimulating fellowship that contains worship and interactive dialogue, and investing with our time and resources in our Father’s kingdom. Effective modeling means telling our young people why following Christ matters, showing them how, getting them started in what we are doing to grow, keeping them going and seeing that they pass what they learned on to others!
The road home is a narrow road that climbs and winds to the Son. It’s a glorious road and a road every child of God should be challenged to follow. Our youth are our future. This earth is not our destination and unless we understand that and get serious about training our youth, the road we know will become even less trafficked and the broad highway that leads to destruction will become an even more congested nightmare.
To those of you are young, don’t be discouraged! Keep your eyes on Jesus and ask Him to help you fall deeper in love with Him each day so that you can serve Him for God’s glory! And if you are part of a youth group that is not challenging you spiritually, respectfully share with the leader that you would like to have more meat and less cotton candy!
