Empty Churchs

Once again today's news included a story about church attendance declining. The reporter said that church was not relevant to today's young generation, Generation Y or better known as Millennials. The story was brief but gained my attention when the decline was credited to a lack of relevancy in regards to religion.

There is nothing more precious and relevant than one's religion. An argument could be made, and discussed at length, as to the focus of one's religion, but I dare not go there now. I believe it is more important to concern ourselves with the reason for a loss in relevancy.

If we look closely there are two groups that are at the center of this sad truth; the church and the youth of our great nation. Our church leaders must take this news to heart. Why do the young adults, our future leaders, place religion at such a low priority in their life. Their parent's entered the church in record numbers during the 80's with the introduction of the "Big Box" church. Perhaps it is the message that these churches send; love and prosperity, God and prosperity, prosperity and more prosperity. Perhaps this new generation saw the empty promises that the carnival preachers hawked were just that...empty. Perhaps prosperity is not the focus of this new generation; that is good, unless by default it excludes the very church they grew up in. The young mind may be prone to using broad strokes when eliminating boredom and relevancy. And with a single stroke they whitewash what was meant to be a place of worship. But attendance is not just down in these mega-churches. So what is the cause in your church? If your church still preaches the gospel, still reads the bible and tells the truth about contentment, are you doing what needs to be done to attract this young mind.
If you are the leader in the church are you willing to sing a different song, to open the doors at a different time? Are you reaching out? You can do all this and never water down the Gospel! You don't know how, ask someone who is part of the Generation Y. Or maybe spend some time on your knees and ask God. You can not just keep opening the doors, sing the same hymns, greet the same faces and expect them to come. Christ told us to go and invite them in. So go.

To  this new and reluctant generation: there are many things as a young adult that will have no relevance to you right now, religion or a relationship with God is not one of those things. If you have never heard the story of Christ, take a moment of your life and learn about Him. If you believe the church is filled with hypocrisy, then change it. If you experienced unfulfilled promises then know that the wrong god was likely portrayed. God is not a lotto ticket that can be crumbled and tossed when you don't win. God is not guarantee that you will be the best at everything in life. God is not some rich uncle that will solve your problems with a checkbook. But I will tell you what God is, He is patient. He has all the time you will ever need. He will wait for you because He loves you. But you see my young friend the problem is that you are not patient, you may think you have time to kill before seeking religion, you don't. Before you know it you will be reading about Generation Z, you children, and wondering why the act they way they do. They act the way you teach them. Trust me, the time you loose away from God today will break your heart tomorrow. Start fresh, ask questions and seek answers. Learn today who Christ is, learn today why God is relevant. So go, now.

Sara Rose

Sara Rose walked across the stage this week while being inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Sara is my fourteen year old daughter. As I sat in the auditorium, an overwhelmed and proud parent, memories of the past fourteen years streamed by as quickly as the time has. One memory,that paused with clarity, was of holding her hand when she was but maybe fourteen months old, helping her walk across a playground. She tried with all the might of a toddler to pull away from my grip and run to discover this new found world.

With difficulty I departed memory lane and I listened as the speaker spoke of service, leadership and character. A member of the NJHS must perform with outstanding results in each of these areas to be considered for and maintain membership. These words are ones I associated with adults, not my little girl. Until tonight. Tonight I realized that I must change with her. She has matured into a young woman, and I have not stopped looking at her as a young child.

In less than thirty minutes my daughter grew up in front of my teary eyes. I worried if she would face all the challenges that I did as a young teenager. The temptations that come within and from peers. The broken hearts that come with relationships suddenly cut short for no good reason. The decisions to study or to play. The choices to do right or wrong. 

I know she will face each of these as I did. Today the challenges are even more with the popularity of social networks like My Space and Facebook allowing one to be more bold in their honesty, more open in their sharing of private thoughts, regardless of their content. It has become so easy for anyone to sit at a keyboard and type thoughts that at one time were not even spoken out loud; then with the stroke of a key share them with the world.

Without doubt I know Sara will face these challenges. It is also without doubt that I know she will face them better than I did. Sara Rose has the distinct advantage of knowing Jesus Christ as her savior and as her guide. At fourteen I made the choice not to know Him, to turn away from God and His church. It would be another twenty years before I realized what Sara did when she was just 8 years old.

All of inductees tonight were asked to take a vow. A vow that they would always follow the guidelines as set forth by the National Honor Society. For you Sara this vow will be simple when you remember the promise that God made to you.

I will still try to hold your hand at times to steady your walk, and you will probably still  pull away and discover the world on your own. But know this now as I do, in truth, you were steadying me.

Love, Dad