I have been teaching through the life of Elijah at skull church. One of the things that really hit me hard this week was the fact that as Elijah’s chariot ride to heaven approached God had him focus on raising up his protege, Elisha. While we may not have such an impressive trip to heaven, the reality is that none of us are long for this earth. Reaching the next generation for Christ must always remain an urgent priority in the church if we are to wisely use the time that remains. If we don’t, it won’t matter how vibrant or powerful the work in our day was, because just as “there arose a Pharaoh that knew not Joseph,” (Exodus 1:8) a generation will rise after us that knows not God.

We must not only reach young people, but we need to do what we can to integrate them into the church in a meaningful way. In 2003, George Barna published these troubling findings: “Many twentysomethings are reversing course after having been active church attenders during their teenage years. As teenagers, more than half attended church each week and more than 4 out of 5 (81%) had ever gone to a Christian church. That means that from high school graduation to age 25 there is a 42% drop in weekly church attendance and a 58% decline from age 18 to age 29. That represents about 8,000,000 twentysomethings alive today who were active church-goers as teenagers but who will no longer be active in a church by their 30th birthday.”

I secretly wonder how much youth groups are to blame for this trend. Not that I am opposed to youth groups (quite the opposite) but I don’t think that churches ought to think that because they have a great youth program the “church of tomorrow” is being taken care of and so they can continue to cater everything that happens in the main sanctuary to the adults. Often youth groups tend to be mini-churches within the church. A student could potentially graduate high school without ever feeling like they are woven into the fabric of the larger church body. It makes sense to me that after college they wouldn’t return to a church they were never really apart of beyond student ministry.

At fresh life we have it set up so that through their teenage years students will be connected into the larger church body as they attend and hopefully serve, both at skull church and at weekend services. The student ministries don’t compete with but rather complement what happens in the main-sanctuary. They provide specialized student teachings, small groups, accountability, events and discipleship, but are not intended to be a student’s sole church experience. (That’s why we don’t offer student programs at every weekend service or any on wednesday night.) I see myself as a youth pastor at fresh life as well and always will. (even when I get super old)

Of course for this to work, the style of the services and opportunities for students to serve have to be addressed, and with that discussion there comes the fear that those who already enjoy the way things are in the church will be upset. But that deserves it’s own blog entry. I will muse on that later this week. For now, I’ll leave you with this haunting thought–Every movement is just one generation away from becoming a monument. We must pass it on.

Posted in ministry, raw thoughts