You Are Viewing Church Chew

I hope I’ve made a case for asking significant questions and considering eternal issues as you consider “leaving your church.” If you are just stopping in, scroll down to the bottom and read the first entries in this series so you’ll be in the thought-flow for this entry.

Simply put, there are times that you may need to leave you church. However, in our remote control culture where we change channels on a whim and we have our food made-to-order, we must refuse to allow our consumerism to influence our commitment to Christ.

I provide the following thoughts about leaving your church as a template for prayerful consideration over time, not as a checklist for “how to.” In addition, these thoughts should be applied to most churches. This is not a place for the isolated instances of abusive churches, horrible situations, or moral failings in leadership (though they do exist!). It’s meant to address the typical instance of a growing sense of unease or discontent in your heart as a regular, faithful member of a church. It does not apply to the once-a-monthers, infrequent attenders or the uninvolved church consumer/pew sitter.

1. Do not allow your emotions to direct your decision to leave your church.
2. Do not allow your personal preferences to outweigh biblical guidance in leaving your church.
3. Make sure you’ve had at least one honest, unemotional meeting with the pastor before you leave.
4. Your goal is to leave in love, not in frustration, anger or disenchantment.
5. Review your commitment to be obedient to Christ and to protect the unity of His body and the beauty of His bride.
6. Resolve to not tear down, stir up, or bring people with you as you leave.
7. Deal with authority issues in your heart. Are you willing to submit your life to leaders and follow their authority? If not at this church, then what church?
8. Seek counsel from godly friends or family outside your church.
9. Commit to pray diligently for God’s blessing and favor upon your church and its leaders for 60 days before leaving or stepping out of an active role. You may discover a unique refreshing of your heart as you begin to pray.
10. Be as tough on yourself as you are on your evaluation of your church.

This is not an exhaustive list, obviously, and I’d love to hear from other leaders what you might add or substract from these. As a pastor, I know there’s a back door to our church and that people can silently slip out of it – sometimes unnoticed. If there’s a steady stream, there’s a problem. However, a trickle is normal and necessary for many reasons. We’ll cover those in anther entry.

To be continued…

This is the third part in a continuing series on the Youth of Western Europe, with a focus on France. See below for links to the first two parts of this series.

The political animosity of France seems not only to be directed at the U.S., but also at the Christianity it sees portrayed by the U.S. This unfortunate association, combined with historical milieu of the country, as well as its confusing religious history – where Christianity fought itself more than it ministered to its people – have led to the alarming state of lostness among French youth. They must be reached with the Gospel in this generation! To have such a highly technological and ostensibly educated society’s youth reject Christ would erode the “progress” of the last centuries. If the church cannot keep its children and address this situation in every country, it cannot claim to have reached a people.

According to the 24-7prayer.com website,

“80% of the youth population of France have never even seen or held a Bible!”

Couple that with France’s long history of persecuting religious minorities, and one can see how any authentic, Bible-believing fellowship that emerges could easily receive the moniker of “cult.” Although the evangelical community in France is greater than 500,000, most of those are over the age of 40. In fact, it is reported that there are more full-time occultic practitioners in France than there are Christian workers (24/7prayer.com reports 50,000 occultic practitioners)!

“Of France’s 60 million inhabitants, about 40 million consider themselves Catholic, but only about 5 million attend church each month. Up to 5 million are Muslim and 650,000 are Jewish. One million are Protestants; about 650,000 of them belong to the often austere and liturgical Reformed and Lutheran churches, but only a small proportion attend church regularly,” reported a February 2005 Christianity Today article.

The article claims that there are the 350,000he 350,000
English: World English Bible - WEB
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja! Štetje svetopisemskih vrstic se začne z ¹! Vrstica ⁰ ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin evangelical churchgoers in France, but most French are deists, agnostics, and atheists ripe for a renewed effort of the church.

Scripture exhorts the church to preach the Gospel to all nations, but it is not a one-time event. Our Lord obviously meant to “keep preaching” the Gospel – not to drop a Bible bomb on a culture and then move on, thinking the task was done. Historically the church has done a better job of exposing people to the Gospel than it has curing them of paganism. All these factors lead to the need to re-examine our “unreached peoples” classification and press forward in the understanding that we must make disciples and not reap decisions from the nations. The youth of France are in desperate need of the transforming power of the Gospel and to be reached with its life-giving truth.

In this continuing series, we’ve been looking at the issue of leaving your church. With the advent of the popular, mall-like “megachurch” of the 1980s, the American culture has seen the continuing growth and rise of large, trendy churches seeking after relevance across the country. It’s now somewhat hip to be a church planter, and new congregations “launch” after mass mailouts and focus groups, often with several hundred (at times over 1000) strangers showing up for a first service. All this takes place in the overall context of Christianity in the States declining.

Studies tell us that “The proportion of the [American] population that can be classified as Christian has declined from 86% in 1990 to 77% in 2001.”1 In 2008, the number dropped to 76%.

Here are some other disturbing observations:

• Less than 20% of Americans regularly attend church—half of what the pollsters report.
• American church attendance is steadily declining.
• Only one state is outpacing its population growth. Hawaii, where 13.8% of the state’s population (1.3 million) regularly attends church, was the only state where church attendance grew faster than its population growth from 2000 to 2004. (However, church attendance in Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee—all of which have higher percentages of church attendees than Hawaii—was close to keeping up with population growth in the respective states.)
• Mid-sized churches are shrinking; the smallest and largest churches are growing.
• Established churches—40 to 190 years old—are, on average, declining.
• The increase in churches is only 1/4 of what’s needed to keep up with population growth.
• In 2050 (if trends continue), the percentage of the U.S. population attending church will be almost half of what it was in 1990.2

What’s my morbid point? Simply put, there are better things to be doing than looking for a better church for you. It is not a time to be shopping for a church that appeals to you or the needs of your family. It is a time to gently and graciously help those who have not confessed Christ as Lord to surrender their lives in wholehearted obedience to Him.

It is an act of allegiance and submission when you give your heart and life to Jesus Christ as Lord. Your confession of sins and glad reception of salvation from God through Christ’s death and resurrection is not for the ultimate goal of comfort in religious gathering. The ultimate goal of our salvation, in fact, is not about us.

Rather, our salvation brings honor and glory to the Father for His indescribable mercy. Our lives are meant to exalt Him, and our salvation and eternal life in Him are reflective of His love and kindness.

We should be seeking to lead others to Him, not consumed with whether our churches meet our needs for activities, programs and social life. Before you think I advocate an evangelically busy church, I will expound more on the importance of us being the church in later posts. For now, however, I simply say that we must be extremely careful to not make “church” about us.

Amid concerns of a church lacking certain programs for your family, styles of music or of the teaching not being “meaty” enough, please realize that there’s more at stake than the whether there’s steak.

To be continued…

Notes

1. Religious identification in the U.S.: How American adults view themselves, ReligiousTolerance.org

Three years ago, I wrote a short entry called When it’s time to leave your church. I’ve been amazed at the amount of traffic that entry continues to receive. Invariably I notice that people find it after searching the web with “how to know when to leave my church” or “how to leave your church.” Church hopping is passé. In the 21st century, folks don’t seem to be looking for another church. Many are ready to give up on church completely.

If this is you, or if you’re in the former group of struggling to stay in your church, I hope you’ll leave feedback that will be constructive and helpful for others on their journey. I intend this entry to be the first in a follow-up series to the original entry.

Since there are a more reasons why people consider not going to their church any longer than there are fire ant mounds in south Arkansas, we’ll be taking this slowly. Examining your reasons for not going are more important than stopping going.

They can be as simple as…

• I’m tired of the routine, the same-old, same-old.
• It’s boring.
• I don’t get anything out of the ________ (sermons, programs, ministries).
• Someone else always beats me to the best dessert at potlucks.
• I just don’t feel connected there.

To as complex and meaningful as…

• I’m concerned about the biblical teaching there (or lack thereof).
• The leadership of the church is becoming ____________ (cultish, autocratic, unhealthy, insert your adjective).
• The church is consumed with themselves.
• My family has not been ministered to there.

In future entries, we will be exploring these and other reasons for leaving your church. As a pastor of a church, my goals are:

• To evaluate your relationship with Christ and help you embrace the Church as His bride and chosen method of world redemption. This will help you view “church” in a biblical and reverent manner.
• To get you to consider your own heart and its blamelessness. This will ensure that you are willing to forgive if necessary.
• To evaluate if you are a victim of consumerism, materialism or false worldviews in your own assessment of your church or your approach to it. The lens that we view life through may cloud our vision and understanding of reality.
• To help you leave well (if possible and if leaving is actually what you need to do).
• To provide you with a framework for the next church that you will serve Christ through.

Obviously, I’m biased toward the church. We will examine this mystery together as sincere sleuths, seeking to arrive at proper deductions. But make no mistake, there are enough twists and turns in our relationship with the people of God to provide fodder for the best thriller for eternity:

“This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.” Ephesians 5.32

I hope you’ll tag along for this journey. Stay tuned….

Last week was astonishingly full. It culminated in a Baptism and Celebration Service on the football field behind Blacksburg Middle School. It also included a trip to Orlando with some of our church staff and volunteers for the Exponential Conference. Throw in a massive laughfest called our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner on Saturday night at NLCF‘s facility for good measure. As I hit the sack last night, I was moved by gratitude, joy and relief.

I wanted to point you to some pictures that might help you appreciate the joys of the past weekend and week, as well let you see a video that Dave Farris shot from his iPhone. I hope you’ll thank the Lord with me for a week of fullness and grace.

Pictures:

• Volunteer Appreciation Dinner
• Baptism Service

Dave’s Video:

Members of our staff and leadership team arrived in Orlando late on Monday night after a day of planes and automobiles. It’s been two years since my first Exponential Conference experience, and already, the difference is significant.

At my first experience, I was by myself, and I’d come off a particularly trying year as a pastor and church planter in Arkansas. This year, I’m with new leaders at a new church, and we’re here after a particularly blessed several months of God’s gracious favor in the life of our church and families.

It’s much better to learn in community, and I’m grateful for Cody, Dave, and Jim being here with me. It’s going to be fun to unpack what we’ve learned each evening and on the way home.

I’ll try to post daily about some reflections from the conference, as I did back in 2008, but I assure you that I’ll be kinder to Ed Stetzer. I’ll never forget the call I got from Carolyn after my first conference entry back then. I had attended the first plenary session that day, and Ed was the keynote speaker. I was there as a wounded church planter that had financed his trip on fumes. I just needed a life preserver.

Ed instead threw stats. They were great ones, and they were convicting to us all about the state of the church and our need to adopt a missional strategy and lifestyle, but his talk just left me discouraged. Actually, it was a great talk, but in my frame of mind, it just didn’t connect.

Carolyn called and said, “One of your ‘friends’ is messing with you. They left a comment on your entry claiming to be Ed Stetzer.” I laughed and went to my blog to check the commenter’s email. It was Ed’s.

Bummer. In my blunt hurtness, I had unintentionally wounded someone else. Or so I thought. In the comment exchange (and later email) that followed, I realized it would take much more than that to hurt Ed’s feelings, thank goodness.

Strange thing, Ed and I wound up going to Poland together later that year as part of a church planters’ discovery trip with the IMB. You can see those entries here.

One important lesson I learned out of that experience? Never blog when you’re frustrated.

If you’re at Exponential this year, I’d love to hear from you!

We’d love to have you be a part of our worship service at Northstar Church this Sunday if you’re in the area. Here’s a Google map to the Blacksburg Middle School. We have services at 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.

Snowed In Announcements

Because we cancelled church today due to snow, Cody made this great video to show.

The Catalyst Conference is 10 years old this year. I’ve wanted to go each year since it was started, but this will be my first year. I’m grateful to be able to join the Northstar Church staff on this excursion in Atlanta.

I asked them both at supper tonight at Romeo’s Pizza what they felt like Catalyst’s mission and intent was. (They both attended the conference last year.) One said it was to help church leaders move from legalism to innovation. The other said that the conference challenged leaders to new ideas.

So I’m here in Atlanta for two more days to hear some dynamic speakers and biblical communicators. I’m looking forward to connecting with friends, making new ones and being deeply challenged in my faith and leadership.

On the drive down, I was tracking #cat09 on Twitter (the hashtag for Catalyst), and if you do Twitter, you’ll find some incredible quotes and 140-character reflections on Catalyst by tracking it as well. I tweeted this afternoon, “I’m thinking that Catalyst is gonna be a tweet competition for best quote.” In fact, Twitter could wind up being the Cliff Notes for Catalyst. Someone ought to publish all the tweets for it in a manuscript…

If you’re in Atlanta for the conference, look me up or nudge me on Twitter with a mention (“@journeyguy”). I’ll try to post highlights and reflections over the next few days.

Essential Church?:
Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts

I’ve tried to show in this series of entries that for us in the church or the campus to do effective collegiate ministry, we must begin far earlier than when students arrive on the college campus. The senior year in high school is too late as well. Thom Rainer argues effectively in his book Essential Church that age 16 is when teens start to drop out of church. (It’s a great resource for those wanting more research and insight into the subject of reaching young adults.)

In summary, here are some things I’ve highlighted that may help us re-begin our witness and encouragement to young adults in the church:

• Desegregating youth groups from the church at large
• Establishing well-defined and meaningful transitions to adulthood
• Raising our expectations of church and young adults
• Making the faith stories of church members a vital part of worship and small groups

Collegiate ministers located on the college campus have their work cut out for them. They face a difficult, time-consuming challenge: proclaim the Gospel to lost students and reclaim the “Christianized” students. In the latter, they work to transform an apathetic, dead faith crawl to a vibrant, glorious faith walk. At present, it’s a losing battle. Collegiate ministers need help from the church.

They must not disconnect from the church in frustration, but instead radically reconnect with the church with a fresh vision of what it will take to reach this generation together. I believe that in order for collegiate ministry to be done well, it must be done early. The hurdles in our churches are not insurmountable. Let’s jump high!

In a few short weeks, I’ll be going to Poland for the second time in less than a year. I was blessed to go last October on a Discovery Trip sponsored by the Arkansas Baptist State Convention. I got to hang out with Ed Stetzer, Rick White, and some amazing missionaries that serve in Poland.

One of the goals of the trip was for the pastors who went to be mobilizers for Central and Eastern Europe. It’s one of the most difficult areas of our world to evangelize.

At the end of this month, I’ll be traveling back to that wonderful region of the world with members of the UAM softball team, the Cotton Blossoms. From Journey Church, Tracy Reed, the UAM Baptist Collegiate Minister will be going along with me and my wife and Lou Arnold. The goal of our trip is to assist the ministry of our missionaries overseas by conducting sports clinics and building new relationships through our work there.

When we asked the softball gals to go, we committed to helping them raise their money for the trip (in addition to our own). With a cost upwards of $1500 per person for plane fare, room and board, that was a sizable faith step. Little were we to know that Lou would raise all of her money within the first two weeks via Facebook!

During the time we announced our trip, we have been able to also send over three guys from our church to help the missionaries over spring break. They were able to work with the Krakow Tigers, Poland’s professional football team.

The purpose of my writing today is to ask you to help us raise the remaining money for our trip. We only need $3000 to reach our goal! Could you spare a few bucks – the cost of a Coke, or a Happy Meal, a movie, etc. to send our team to Poland? We would sincerely appreciate whatever you are able to do!

We are at the point of needing to purchase our plane tickets before the cost gets away from us! Help us finish this goal this week! And thank you so much in advance for your kindness, prayers and generosity!

It’s a little awkward to write a blog entry like this lest it be taken as a cry for affirmation from my own church members. That is not the intention. However, I will not refuse any encouragement directed my way. ;)

Tuesday morning, our church hosted a regular event that we call NCourage. It’s specifically designed to encourage, uplift and affirm ministers, pastors and staff in our area. Being one of those myself, I know well the burden and difficulty of leading a group of people to voluntarily pursue a passionate love relationship with Christ. In order to do that, you must consistently model it. That means that we cannot lead in a direction where we ourselves are not going. It also means that spiritual leadership for some can become a barren, thankless task.

At NCourage, we give out free resources for those who come, and we invite a guest speaker to come and share in a way that will allow ministers to leave refreshed and renewed.

On Tuesday, we partnered with Rose Hill Freewill Baptist Church. They had invited pastor and author Rob Morgan to speak in revival services at their church, and their pastor, David Ponder, graciously agreed to share Rob with us. Our two churches split the cost of a case of Rob’s book Red Sea Rules, and Journey folks provided breakfast food for the morning meeting.

It was truly encouraging. Rob did a wonderful job of sharing about the importance of infecting your people with confident joy. He spoke from 2 Samuel 18, where David actually infected his army with despair because of his inappropriate mourning for his son Absalom. Absalom had actually tried to usurp his kingdom!

Rob said, “The attitude of the leader affects everyone underneath him.” He went on to urge the small gathering to find our satisfaction and joy in ministry from our walk with the Lord rather than our work for Him.

The Joy of Smallness

Speaking of small gatherings, the attendance issue is one that often plagues ministers. Unfortunately, we judge too quickly the impact or success of an event by numerical feedback. I don’t know of anyone pastor who hates it when a room is packed. On the contrary, I admit the personal frustration of planning well for a ministry event only to succumb to disappoint at a poor showing.

Numbers are very poor way to judge influence and impact.

Kent Hughes has a book called Liberating Your Ministry from the Success Syndrome which should be a must-read for every minister. After reading it years ago, I resolved to never preach to a few people. I always prepare and preach as if there will be thousands present. Every gathering deserves your very best.

I heard the following illustration while I was on a mission trip to Canada with college students back in 2000. It reminds me of the importance of never letting the size of your ministry or event reflect on your influence.

In a far country lived a band of minstrels who traveled from town to town presenting music to make a living.  Unfortunately, they had not been doing well.  Times were hard; there was little money for common folk to come to hear the minstrels, even though their fee was small.

Attendance had been falling off, so early one morning the group met to discuss their plight.

‘I see no reason for opening tonight,’ one said.  ‘To make things even worse then they may have been, it is starting to snow.  Who will venture out on a night like this?’

‘I agree,’ another disheartened singer said. ‘Last night we performed for just a handful.  Few will come tonight, why not give back their meager fees and cancel the concert?  No one can expect us to go on when just a few are in the audience.’

A third minstrel joined in saying, ‘How can anyone do his best for so few?’  Then he turned to another sitting beside him and asked, ‘What do you think?’

The man appealed to was older than the others.  He looked straight at his troupe.  ‘I know you are discouraged.  I am too.  But we have a responsibility to those who might come.  We will go on.  And we will do the best job of which we are capable. It is not the fault of those who come that others do not.  They should not be punished with less than the best we can give.’

Heartened by his words, the minstrels went ahead with their show.  They never preformed better. When the show was over and the small audience gone, the old man called his troupe to him.  In his hand was a note, handed to him by one in the audience just before the doors closed behind him.

‘Listen to this, my friends!’ Something electrifying in his tone of voice made them turn to him in anticipation.

Slowly the old man read: ‘Thank you for a beautiful performance.’  It was signed very simply — your King.

Disappearance of Testimonies

It’s hard to do collegiate ministry these days when the college students we’re attempting to minister with and to have never heard from anyone what it means to follow Jesus personally. Oh sure, they’ve heard tons of sermons, VBS lessons, youth devotionals, and Sunday School lessons. But the American church today is silent when it comes to personal stories of faith.

When was the last time you heard someone besides your pastor or a church leader share about the difference following Christ has meant in their personal life? Where do young adults hear the real stories of faith today in our curriculum-intensive, content-focused churches? Faith stories are infrequent, and for the most part, they are considered “special” parts of most services.

For collegians, it has a powerfully negative impact on their own faith development to never hear how others have encountered God personally. This lack of understanding what it means to have a personal, intimate relationship with God brings collegians to the university campus with a Velcro Christianity that is easily replaced.

Youth need to hear personal faith stories from each other and from adults in their churches early and often. They need to see how God works in the lives of others, and how a personal love for God is fleshed out in someone’s life. If all they observe about Christianity is a series of church services, events, and programs, they will quickly toss that aside in exchange for what will bring them more personal fulfillment. Unfortunately, there are a lot of negative options on the college campus.

It’s this disappearance of reality-show faith stories that makes it difficult for young adults to relate to most churches today. They don’t want to be a part of a crowd. They want to be involved in a movement. If those in attendance are simply logging in religious hours, college students quickly discern their lack of transparency and opt for places where they can be “real.”

Another sad tendency of many churches is to only put refined Christians on display. If we do hear from members in the pew, it always seem to be those who have had their situations tidily resolved. That’s not true to life. Most of us are aware of friends and family members engaged in intense faith struggles or other challenges. It’s precisely during the hard times that we need to hear from them how they are finding faith and Christ to be sufficient. Young adults don’t want a polished, shiny plastic faith story that would be just at home in the display window in the mall. They learn more from those in the trenches, those who are gritting it out with God. When you see a person slugging it out with Satan, defiantly proclaiming, “Nothing can separate me from the love of Christ,” – that’s the right time for a person to share their story.

Faith stories and their proclamation help growing believers see and relate earthly life with the spiritual realm. Descriptions of struggles and successes help us put feet and faces to our faith. Even in the New Testament, we see a retelling of some of the great faith stories of old in Hebrews 11. Reminding one another what God has done in each of our lives is a powerful tool for shaping and discipling college students.

You Get What You Expect
Maybe the main reason we don’t see many churches producing dynamic young disciples for the Lord Jesus is because we just don’t expect much from our young people. I have found that people will generally rise or fall to our level of expectation from them. Let’s paint with big strokes for them for God’s glory!

Unfortunately, another reason we don’t see many dynamic young disciples in our churches – and I can speak only of my own denomination here – is because there is a famine of older dynamic disciples in our churches. Across the board, we just don’t expect much from church these days. Stand in the back of most traditional churches today and listen to the amazing depth of the 21st century American church:

Nice sermon, preacher.
Boy, the choir was great today!
Went a little long today, didn’t we, pastor? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
Good crowd today, huh?
Man, the capuccino shop in the church foyer was a great move!

We might as well be attending Rotary. Where is the attitude of expectancy for our God to show Himself? Where is the reverence? Where is the holy thought of being used by God to build His kingdom in our communities? Put simply, it’s gone.

We have not because we expect not. No one expects anything, and no one’s talking about it. The deafening silence of God-experiences is the last hurdle to jump in order for effective collegiate ministry to begin in the church.

What in the world would persuade a teen in church today to passionately embrace a love relationship with the living God when he is surrounded by so many that lack it? Have teens today been conditioned to accept a pragmatic “what Jesus can do for you” Christianity than the forgiveness of Christ Jesus through repentance? Our kids through many of our children’s ministry programs are steadily weened off of God.

Entering the greatest arena of spiritual warfare and philosophical disputation in our society today – the university – is like marching our churched students off a cliff. We have not expected much from ourselves, from our churches, or from them… except maybe that they meet a nice girl or guy and make a good living…

To be continued…

No Transition to Adulthood

You would think that our churches would embrace their youth as their key strategy to impact the world of tomorrow for Christ. It would also ensure that they have a church of tomorrow. However, in the words of prominent theologian Rodney Dangerfield, they “don’t get no respect.”

After all, when does a person become an adult in our culture? Heck, you can vote when you’re 18, but you can’t drink alcohol legally in some states at that age. In most states, you can drive when you’re 16, but you can’t smoke a cigarette. You can go see a rated “R” movie when you’re 17, but in most traditional churches, you’ll never see a teenager on a finance committee. With such an obvious confusion in our culture and churches, is it any wonder that today’s adolescents are confused? Not only do we not give our teens a change to succeed in our churches, but any cultural observer can note that we have created a climate of postponed adolescence in our society as well, with many adults continuing to act like one might expect an early teen to act well into their 30s.

I think there are two optimal occurrences that we can seize for maximum impact in adolescence. One is the 13th birthday as an adulthood transition. The other is an adolescent’s first ballot: his car keys. When those keys first reach his pocket, he is given the power to vote with his presence where he will spend his time, Search for senior high students in most youth ministries today, and you will see they are “voting” to go elsewhere.

What can the church do to communicate the passage from childhood to adulthood? From being the center of their own world to being a servant in our ours? I believe the church must lead out in a cultural revolution that will bring purpose and meaning to our adolescents precisely at the time they are crying out for it.
Where can we look for such models of adulthood transition? Sit down and relax. Take a deep breath. Evangelicals, don’t get constipated here. I think we can look to Jesus’ people for it. We can look to the Jews.

You(th) Can Learn a Lot from a Jew

What element of orthodox Jewish culture is celebrated without reservation and carries immense symbolism for a Jewish youth? What exists already in Jewish life that communicates to their young that they are now “adults?” The bar mitzvah.

This ancient practice may hold immense practical wisdom for evangelicals today. When you consider the astounding proportion of Jewish youth that go on to become national leaders in politics, technology, science, education, finance… you name it, I for one think we must look at what happened to communicate to these youth at an early age that they “can.”

On the one hand, you take the typical evangelical congregation. When a child hits 6th or 7th grade, congratulations, you get to go to youth group! (Oooohh, aaaaaaahhhhh!) And so begins a six-year odyssey in which we not only segregate youth from the “life” of the congregation (I use life here very generously), but we proceed to entertain them with camps, retreats, concerts, endless supplies of t-shirts with war-like messages on them (won’t they endear themselves to our culture with messages like “Turn or Burn” cheerfully emblazoned on their backs), and a weekly youth group meeting that has no overall vision or strategy for what it wants to accomplish or produce in the lives of these impressionable youth (Adolescence is the age at which they’re the most impressionable. Billy Graham tells us that if a person hasn’t become a Christian by the age of 18, there’s an 85% chance they never will. More recent research suggests that the age is dropping, that youth are cynical younger, and that the key average age is actually more like 15.).

I suggest that each church form a youth strategy team that would actively research and then implement a plan for their church that would affirm a child as he reaches the age 13 and lay before them the vision of service and responsibility they will find within their church. This doesn’t mean we don’t have fun with our teens in church. It does mean that we will most likely hit at what we’re aiming at, that we will produce what we are organized for, that youth will meet our expectations of them.

Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas was planted by a trio of friends that sought to address this very issue… with their own kids. Years later, lead pastor Robert Lewis wrote a book called Raising a Modern Day Knight. It’s principles are transferrable to girls in many ways. But he has also produced material called The New Eve. Both seek to begin the strategic instruction of kids much earlier than traditional churches.

However you consider it, if a church waits until a student reaches 18 to begin doing effective collegiate ministry, it will be too late. By the time a student reaches his or her teen years, their faith (or lack thereof) is firmly formed. I’m reminded of the admonition of Hebrews 5.12-14:

For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Unfortunately, this verse as often as not applies to adult members of our churches. But that’s another series for another day. Perhaps we just don’t expect enough from our church…

Stay tuned…