3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don’t Leave the Church

I am writing this post as a follow up to my blog post from a couple of weeks ago as colleges as atheist factories:

http://stevenuessle.blogspot.com/2014/09/colleges-as-atheist-factories.html

This post will take a look at the traits in young people that allow them to keep their faith as they leave the house of their parents and continue on in their lives and all the potential challenges that may come out.

One of the main thoughts I had in regards to youth and college, and it was confirmed from a conversation I had with an individual who worked with Christians at college, is that youth who “lose” their faith are probably more accurately thought of as youth who never really had faith to begin with. The other option is youth that had a faith that seemed to be on fire, but was built upon very shallow roots that couldn’t withstand the first challenge or setback. I was interested to hear stories of kids who come to college seemingly on fire for the Lord, but it was lost within a Semester. And what was really interesting was that this individual could pick out, within minutes of meeting a young college student, who would maintain their faith throughout their time at college.

I suspect that his observations would dovetail nicely with the article I am going to share, “3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don’t Leave the Church”. I think of this article as I consider the ways that I will raise my son, but I also think that there will be value for those in youth ministry (and the church as a whole) as they consider how they want to interact with the youth and what are truly the most important lessons and virtues to instill in the youth that they are working with.

Again, I also want to state my standard disclosure about youth ministry. It is really hard and I am certainly no expert. I did not grow up in a youth program and I have not spent much time working with you. There are countless articles that are written on how to do youth ministry better (I am going to link to one in my next post), and everyone has great ideas and how it can be improved, especially those that don’t work with youth. But with that said, I do think it is interesting to think about the traits that result in individuals staying in the church, to think about how youth ministry and parents can develop those traits, and to know that there are so many ways that youth ministry and parents can get from here to there.

This is the article that I will be working from:

http://www.faithit.com/3-common-traits-of-youth-who-dont-leave-the-church/#.U_AdBt0Wp2_.facebook

The article is written by a high school pastor and sets the tone by sharing the concern of many parents. Not that there child will misbehave and get into drinking and partying and perhaps worse activities as a teenager, but that as soon as they leave the house they will move on from the church. So many stories of good kids in good Christian homes leaving the church, and mounds of data suggesting that young people are leaving the church.

I have, of course, written much about young people and the church and some of the reasons that people are leaving or are no longer attracted to the church, and those certainly apply, but I also want to highlight this article as getting at something a little bit more foundational.

The first trait - They are converted.

The author wants to stop thinking about good kids and good attendance to church and youth events, and to start thinking of true conversion to a life with Christ.

There are plenty of good people in the world who want no part of Christ. And being a Christian is so much more than merely being a good person. We can train people to be good, our country does a pretty good job of that. What is much harder is to train disciples, to train youth that want to be a disciple of Christ.

However, it stands to reason that people who will stay in the church are people that have been transformed by the church. The youth that will stay in the church is the youth that will church as more than a religion consisting of attendance and good behavior, and more of conversion. Once you have been converted and tasted that the Lord is good, this will stay with the individual for the rest of their lives.

I agree, conversion and being a disciple is the key.

The second trait – They have been equipped, not entertained

The author, again a high school pastor himself, cuts to the heart of youth ministry. He describes fun events that he has partaken in with his youth, but acknowledges that there is so much more needed. There is nothing wrong with fun and entertainment, and that is an important part of fellowship and growing in confidence, but there must be more.

The baseline that the writer suggests is to send out youth with the ability to share the gospel, disciple a younger believer, and lead a Bible study.  If the youth pastor has not done this, he has not equipped his youth with the tools necessary to stay in the church once they leave. If youth do not have a desire for Bible reading, Bible study, and strong examples of discipleship and prayer, they do not have much.

He finishes this section with some questions. The idea should be that when the youth leave after graduation, they should be the type that are ready to join a college ministry, find a church, and be able to lead and disciple other young believers.

I certainly agree with this point. The youth must leave being equipped to continue ministry after the youth group. Mere entertainment will provide no foundation going forward.

The third trait – Their parents must preach the gospel to them

This is the final part of having children ready to leave for college. It is impossible for the youth pastor to do everything for the youth of the church. It is also the responsibility of parents and even the rest of the church to continue to preach the gospel to the youth. There must be a setting beyond just the youth group where youth can develop the skills and equipment necessary to remain in the church.

The common thread the writer mentions is that for every twentysomething who is ministry minded is that they come from a home where church and the gospel is not something on the periphery, but is absolutely central to the life of the family. This is the final trait of a youth who will not leave the church.

But, as the author concludes, all of this still might not matter. Parents and youth ministers can do everything perfect and it still might not matter. The point of this article and my blog post is not to say that there is a magic wand that can be waved and everything will work. There is no 100% formula. But following these guidelines will certainly increase the chances.

I want to conclude with his final paragraph:

Youth pastors, pray with all your might for true conversion; that is God’s work. Equip the saints for the work of the ministry; that is your work. Parents, preach the gospel and live the gospel for your children; our work depends on you.

My next post will examine some articles on youth ministry.