Losing The Next Generation

As a Christians, I believe its time we opened our eyes. While in some parts of the world the gospel is spreading, here in the USA the gospel is shrinking. The moral fabric of our nation has torn and is becoming a thing of the past.

The statement, one nation under God, now mocks God instead of standing true. Those of us that truly stand for and believe in this statement are becoming the minority not the majority.

What really brings a tear to my eye though is the hope of our children. At a larger rate then ever, our children raised in the church are leaving the church and not returning. We have failed to pass our faith to our children.

Not that we didn’t try. We raised them in church. They went to vacation bible school as children. They went on to youth group as young adults. But when they went on to college and into the world their belief didn’t seem to stick.

Statistics show that between 70 to 88 percent of Christian teens leave the church by the second year of college. 80 percent of youth that claim to be born again do not believe in absolute truth.

What has gone wrong for the youth that hold the future of our nation? Why have they not made God their own?

There is so much to combat for a child in the world today. If they are to make the faith of their parents their own, they must know God themselves in a very real way. They must be taught why they believe what they believe. Every person must find the foundation in the truth by questioning the faith and having God confirm it for them.

There are so many things that must happen for our children to find God for themselves. First we can’t protect them from everything, they must learn that suffering is ok and will build the character of God in them. They must learn that in hard times God will be their protectors, the one who is their safe hiding place.

Secondly, we have to take the legalism out of the church and teach our children to believe in God in His way. There are no set of rules, no task list to check off to get it all right. Too often we put the rules in place and as long as our children follow them, we assume they are ok spiritually.

We have taken the power out of God. If you are honest with yourself you will admit that often we want to execute our own plan more than we want to follow God’s plan. God’s way is often risky and unpopular.

When Noah was told to build the ark, no one believed there would be rain. I am sure everyone thought he was nuts, even ridiculed him, until the rain began. But the miraculous happened and rain came from the sky.

In my lifetime, when I have been used the most by God, it was when I put myself out there. When I have obeyed even when I thought the idea God had given me was nuts, those are the times that God has done powerful and amazing things.

If we are to change the destiny of our children, we must show them there is power behind what we believe. We must begin first with our own lives and act like we believe it ourselves.