Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Danger: Post Youth Group

This morning on the way to work, I heard a story on Moody Radio that really got my attention.  It got me listening because it talked about a study that attempted (and succeeded greatly) in answering a question that on my heart a lot.  Some people at Eastlake Baptist know that the current spiritual growth of the youth is not my only concern because I am deeply concerned with their spiritual growth after they finish high school.  Several of you have heard me talk about it before.  The truth is that a huge amount of people leave the church after high school, and church congregations are dumbfounded.
The reason is easy to see if you are in the right place to see it.  It's the youth groups!  For most people in the church, the one criteria for a successful youth group is numbers.  If they see a lot of kids in there, they think everything must be going great.  The kids are in church and having fun.  What could be wrong?  A lot.  This single standard of measure has caused many well-meaning volunteers and paid ministers to strive for that one thing, and the way to get a lot of kids somewhere is easy.  Entertain them.  So, that's what they do.  They play games.  They watch movies.  They go to amusement parks.  None of these things are bad to do from time to time, but these youth groups start doing them all the time.  You can see the problem, right?
This study went around to college campuses, found former youth group members now involved in things like secular student organizations.  When some might think that they would find a lot of little Richard Dawkinses, lured away from Christianity because of arguments given in favor of evolution, that was not the case for the majority.  The problem for most of the former youth groupers, including Phil, who was the president of his youth group, started in the youth group, with their leaders seeking to entertain them rather than taking the Bible seriously and challenging them with it.  Kids are a lot smarter than many adults give them credit for.  They can see when you really believe something, and they respect it.
This is where it comes to the parents.  Even though the kids will grow with leaders who focus on the Scripture, most will not beg you to go to that kind of group, especially not the younger ones.  Parents must realize that their are a lot of other pulls of them.  I hear excuses like, "I don't know anyone."  Well, you will if you go, just like school.  "It's boring."  They just don't have ears to hear yet.  Give it time.  There are many more, but you get the point.  This is their spiritual health and walk with God on the line; their entertainment, popularity, and comfort and come second.  You have to be the parent, know it is for their good, and bring them, "kicking and screaming" if necessary, though hopefully not literally.
My concern over this has brought me to the conclusion, many years ago, that The Forge at Eastlake and the youth groups I have lead previous to it, need to be focused solely on God and His Word.  We will play some games and have some fun, but the focus will never be on that.
My desire is that this will be an encouragement to the youth that have been going to their youth groups and the parents who have been bringing them as well as an encouragement to those have been gone for a while for whatever reason to come on back.  We've missed you.