Having said that, here I am. If I'm going to do this, I want to do it well. What should this blog be about? Well, I'd like to make it fun so I'll probably spend some time being a bit silly. I love photography so I'll probably have some pictures. I love my family and will probably include some images and stories from home. I am also very busy at church so there will be many spiritual discussions here. I hesitate to make this a church blog simply because I don't want to pretend to represent the entire congregation, but I'm sure that church and church topics will come into play quite often. So welcome to the site and here we go.
I am in the initial chapters of a book by Dan Kimball entitled “They Like Jesus But Not The Church insights from emerging generations.” In the introduction Mr. Kimball states that “2/3 of those who graduate from high school and stay in the area end up leaving the church.” I would like your help in understanding the scope of this problem.
1. Very simply, is this true where you attend?
2. What do you think some of the causes are?
3. Can it be fixed?
4. Your best guess at how to fix it.
Thanks,
Tom
7 comments:
Welcome!! I'm so glad you're here. :)
Now to the topic at hand ...
I see it happening. Teens leaving the church. I know of several boys especially. I guess I don't see it as much with the girls. Don't know if that's really the trend or just my imagination or only relates to the people I know.
I guess I'd like to know the results of a long-term study ... are they coming back? Just a little later on?
I THINK (just my own humble opinion) that the church hasn't successfully competed with postmodernism. I guess it's kinda hard to compete with "There isn't just one Truth," when our culture is seeing Christians behaving badly and non-Christians behaving nicely & benevolently. Christians live as affluently as their neighbors instead of relying on their God to provide. There's just not all that much difference between Christians & non-Christians - why would the younger generations choose hypocritical Christianity with all its rules & regulations when they can live how they want to AND they don't have to go to church 3 times a week, to boot?
Those are just a few of the excuses I've heard anyway.
I think turning this around has to start with the parents. Sounds obvious, perhaps. But I think more parents than are willing to admit are hoping the church will make the difference in their kids' lives so the parents themselves don't have to bother. It would be too hard for them to live differently than the world. "Why should I have to give up the race of acquisition when I have the money for all the gadgets I want?"
Lisa,
Thanks for stopping by. I agree with your parenting comment. It seems like we expect a lot from the church without remembering that the church is us. A leader in the church is most often still a parent and as such is working on raising their own children. How much time can they give to raising mine? So we decree or declare that parents get with it and work with their own children. Is there something else that the church can do?
Here at Tabernacle, we are trying to work out some activities that will build family ties. We are in the early stages of planning a “Take a Kid Fishing Day”. If all goes well, it will be a day of “Fishing” related Bible focus, followed by a trip to a lake for some hours of casting a line with our children. We will have lunch afterward. Then perhaps the children will be entertained by some puppet shows and the like before we gather for a prayer session and dismiss to our homes. This will all take place on a Saturday and we’ll carry the theme over to Sunday and invite all the guests back. This year (2008) will be the inaugural, trial and error event. Hopefully if we can try this out on the congregation’s families and guests in the hopes of getting all the kinks out, we’ll be able to present it to the larger community in 2009. This is just one phase of what I hope will be a new “Family Ministry” here. It’s still early though as you now know more about it than most of the congregation. I guess I should make an announcement.
Yeah, Tom! I was excited to see you are starting a blog! I am very sporadic in posting on my own, but am hoping to change that.
I posted an update about my student if you would like to read it. Unfortunately my strategies don't seem to be working, instead he is turning on his classmates & pushing things farther and farther. Hopefully a conference with the parents will work some things out.
As for your post. I have seen a trend of some children leaving the church as they grow older. I am not sure of all the reasons, as I am not one of those children. I would have to agree with Lisa on that front that it is hard to convince children of the one truth when our world is constantly telling them that there are many options. I wish we could say that there is one simple way to treat the problem, but I guess it all depends on each individual & finding out why they have chosen to leave. I guess we can only continue to pray & seek out ways to bring them back to the fold.
Have a great week!
Loni,
Thanks for the update. You situation has been on my heart. Good luck with the conference and thanks for your thoughts on this matter. We'll develop the thought further in future posts.
Tom
Hi Tom, Lisa and Loni! Good to read your thoughts on this topic. I have finished reading the book that Tom is reading and talking about. As a matter of fact, Lisa and Loni your dad mentions the book on his blog.
I found it interesting that a group of young Christians made the comment that they knew what they believed but did not know where to find things in the Bible when challenged by other people. I think we have failed as parents church leaders and teachers in making sure our children develop their own faith. The book makes the point that many Christians (not specifically Church of Christ) are unable to scripturally support their faith and that seems to be a turn off to the emerging generation who wants to understand their faith instead of simply being told what and how to believe.
That's a good point, Anonymous (do I know you?). We don't know the Scripture like past generations have known it. How can we defend it to people who aren't Christians if we don't know it ourselves?
Lisa,
It is John B from Tabernacle. What do you think happened to cause us not to have a good working knowledge of the scriptures?
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