For some time now, I have been involved with a three-day
spiritual retreat program for youth called Chrysalis. It is modeled after the adult Walk to Emmaus
and Tres Dios programs. It is designed
as a short-course in Christianity for youth, a moment in time when they can
withdraw from the world, withdraw from their smartphones and social media and
other entertainment, to enter a place where they can hear the voice of God
calling to them in a quiet whisper all too easily drowned out in our chaotic
world. A weekend that will hopefully help them grow in their faith as they
finish high school and college and begin adult life on their own.
This is a remarkable program offered during a pivotal
moment in their lives, and I can’t tell you how much joy I have received from
these young men and women as I have watched God move in their lives over the
course of these three days, reaching them and touching them through His
Spirit. While this is not designed as an
evangelical weekend, we still see many of these young people profess faith in
Christ or recommit their lives to Him during this time apart from the world.
Without fail, at the close of this weekend, we hear these
young men and women speak of how they are going to take their experiences with
God and go forth to do great things for Him.
Of how they are going to change the world by starting in their homes and
their schools and their churches. And,
without fail, I pray that this does indeed happen.
Unfortunately, we all know the statistics. A very high percentage of church-going teens
will abandon the church when they enter college and adult life. For those active in church at the start of
their college careers, at least one-third will have left the church before they
graduate. These statistics have been the
bane of the youth pastor and the source of heartache for parents from time
immortal.
The reasons for this exodus are varied and well
documented, ranging from the influence of unbelieving college professors and
peers to a shifting of social gatherings from church youth groups to other
secular entertainment venues. It is hard
to point to just one thing that might be leading these young people to leave
the church and their faith behind, but I want to offer up a possible suggestion
from Scripture:
“The people served the Lord while those who had seen the
great things the Lord had done still lived...After that whole generation had
been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither
the Lord nor what He had done for Israel.
Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their
ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.” -- Judges 2:7, 10-12a
After Joshua led the people of Israel into the Promised
Land and settled them there through God’s power, he and the rest of his
generation passed away. These were the
people of faith in this community -- the men and women who were eyewitnesses to
some of the greatest workings of power from God on behalf of His people. During this time, the people watched manna
fall from the sky, water come from a rock, and the Jordan River pile up and stop
flowing to allow the nation to cross on dry land. The people watched as God led them to victory
after victory against the Canaanites and the other inhabitants in the
land. They were the heirs to God’s power
in their lives.
But, unfortunately, despite all they had seen and experienced,
they failed to pass on their faith to the next generation. This generation grew up without knowing the
Lord nor what He had done for Israel.
And this lack of knowledge -- this lack of faith -- led them into
idolatry and sin. As it is written in
the Book of Judges, “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
The thing to remember is that this generation grew up
with the religious practices of their elders.
They watched as their fathers and mothers worshiped God in the
Tabernacle. They participated in the
annual feasts. They offered up the
sacrifices with their families. But,
they weren’t really incorporated into the ways of God or the reasons why these
things were done. They are like those the
Apostle Paul described in 2 Timothy 3:5 as “having a form of godliness but
denying its power,” as those who are religious and go through the practices of
religion, but do not have a true, saving faith.
I believe this is the root cause of the exodus of our
young men and women from the church as they enter adulthood. We have failed to truly raise them up in the
faith and knowledge of our Lord and Savior.
Instead, we have separated them into special groups based on their age
and isolated them from the rest of the church.
When the music began to change and contemporary music became more
popular, rather than integrating this into our services, we created separate
services. We have failed in our calling
to disciple our children and raise them in the faith. We have given them just enough religion to
inoculate them for a time and to give them a form of godliness without a real
understanding or knowledge of who God is and what He has done for them.
To answer this, we must begin to intentionally disciple
and mentor these young men and women. To
not separate them from the larger community of faith but to integrate them into
the community, to teach them to obey everything God has commanded, and to
demonstrate for them what Christians look like and act like as adults. We must challenge them in their faith, and
encourage them to question and to test the confines of religion as children and
young teens within the sanctuary of our churches and faith communities, rather
than letting them wait until they are isolated away from the church on college
campuses or in other adult environments.
Faith that is not tested is not true. Faith that is not tested will not stand
against the schemes of the devil nor the lures of this world. We must allow our youth to test their faith
and confirm what they believe before they head off into the world.
I think Steven Furtick, the lead pastor of Elevation
Church, got it right in his book, “Greater,” when he wrote:
“For each of us there comes a time when we can’t just
live out of the abundance of faith instilled in the great men and women who
have gone before us. We have to walk in
faith for ourselves. We have our own
work. We have our own gifts. We have our own step of faith to take.”
Three-day spiritual retreats like Chrysalis are wonderful
movements and times for youth to connect with God. But, they cannot replace a lifetime of discipleship
by parents and adults in a church or community of faith setting. We need to be intentionally building in the
lives of our young people if we want to avoid the fate of the nation of Israel
described in the Book of Judges.
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