Many parents, guardians and church leaders seem to wonder how to effectively ensure durable faith in the lives of young people in our today’s society.
Research has shown that many young adults were regular church goers growing up as kids and a disconnect happened after the age of 15-18 there about.
I love the youth ministry, I really do. But the thing is our church ministers have to ensure they do not segregate the youth. If they do, they not only lose all the youth have to teach, but we are also inadvertently told that the church is really only for adults; those who are married and have families of their own and to be honest a large percentage of youth tend to think that already.
This current generation of youth is quite an interesting one. We seem to pursue happiness through worldly materials, entertainment, social media and worldly pleasures. This in the end makes happiness a little more than momentary escape.
Its no surprise that many youths are restless, insecure, jaded and desperately searching for meaning to explain all the hurt and suffering they see around and meaning for their existence.
Some reasons to why probably the youth may have stopped going to church include;
•Churches seem over protective: Some Christians seem to demonize everything outside church. Some youth say ‘My church is too concerned that movies, music and video games are harmful. Their dressing code and hairstyles are often misjudged.
•Teens and twenty something’s experience of Christianity is shallow: Youth depart from church because they lack experience of church. Some say ‘Church is boring’ or ‘Faith is not relevant to my career or interest. Do we really believe that the faith of Youth is so pointless? Here is a Feedback from a team member from Lulu FM;
Hamso Shupavu – Our youth, especially this generations seem to have embraced modernity, and this seem not to have been accepted by many church ministries. Modern youth ministers get a hard time being accepted for they mostly end up being judged due to their appearance. It seems to be a notion that church ministers dress up in suits, where not many youths prefer dressing this way. So them dressing casually to church brings up a discussion of them not being serious and probably they are not believers and not saved by Christ.
Consequently; churches are not prepared to handle the ‘new normal’. Instead they are more comfortable working with those who are married and have children. However the world for young adults is changing in many significant ways.
My prayer is that as our church leaders minister to a generation starving for meaning, they won’t lose sight of reality, that we as the youth need Jesus and we have a lot to offer.
