Deuteronomy 6:4-9, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”If someone were to ask you what age does one become an adult, what would you say? At what age does one become accountable for their actions, in particular for their faith? Did you know that within the Biblical context that would be 13 years old? Remember that the Bible was written primarily by a Jewish community, though most others as well thought the same. That is why the Jewish community holds a bar mitzvah at the age of 13 years old, which means that one was considered a young adult and not a teenager or some separate group of people. In their context you are either a child or you are a young adult moving towards full adulthood, but not this separation we have today that many of us call puberty, the teenage years, or something else.
Today 70% of our youth are exiting the church between the ages of 18 and 22 years old, which comes to 8 million twenty-somethings who were once part of youth groups and are no longer attending the church (The Barna Update September 24, 2003). If this is the case then we are not following the command of Deuteronomy, because if we were following these commands then less of our children would be walking away from their faith. Maybe we need to relook at how we are labeling our 13 to 18 year olds today. Instead of calling them children or teens, maybe we should set the bar for them a little higher and call them young adults like they did in the Bible. How old again was Mary when she was married? I believe she was around 13, not that I am advocating that, as I am not, but they certainly saw the age a little different than we do.
What do we do differently? According to MTV, who did a poll in 2007 with 13 and 24 year olds, asking them what would make you happy; out of the 1280 young adults asked three-quarters said that their relationship with their family being stronger would make them happy (MTV and the Associated Press Release Landmark Study of Young People and Happiness, New York, August 20, 2007). At home we need to start treating our 13 year old and older children like adults, and we need to be modeling the behavior we expect of them. Do you love Christ like no other, and would any young adult see it in your home and life? Or would they see that you get more excited about sports, shopping, or a television show then the things of God?
What are we teaching the young adults in “youth” group? And why do we expect them to mature when we keep calling them youth. Is your youth group being entertained more then taught about the foundations of their faith? This is a time in their lives where they can become warriors for Christ in a way that married couples cannot be, as they do not have the ties to their life like those married. Instead of walking away from the faith they could be out witnessing for the faith and making great witnesses. Instead of entertaining them continually, we could challenge them in their walk. We are missing the boat with a whole generation and reaping what we have sown over the years, a mass exodus from the church.
Dr. Tim Kimmel says, “a passionate love for Jesus Christ that shows itself in an unquenchable love and concern for others,” is what we want for our children (Tim Kimmel, Raising Truly Great Kids workbook, 26). The question though, is what are some ways to attain this? First, like I have been challenging, we need to decide that they are young adults and no longer children once they hit the teen years. We need to stop giving them excuses to continue childish behavior.
What do we do differently? According to MTV, who did a poll in 2007 with 13 and 24 year olds, asking them what would make you happy; out of the 1280 young adults asked three-quarters said that their relationship with their family being stronger would make them happy (MTV and the Associated Press Release Landmark Study of Young People and Happiness, New York, August 20, 2007). At home we need to start treating our 13 year old and older children like adults, and we need to be modeling the behavior we expect of them. Do you love Christ like no other, and would any young adult see it in your home and life? Or would they see that you get more excited about sports, shopping, or a television show then the things of God?
What are we teaching the young adults in “youth” group? And why do we expect them to mature when we keep calling them youth. Is your youth group being entertained more then taught about the foundations of their faith? This is a time in their lives where they can become warriors for Christ in a way that married couples cannot be, as they do not have the ties to their life like those married. Instead of walking away from the faith they could be out witnessing for the faith and making great witnesses. Instead of entertaining them continually, we could challenge them in their walk. We are missing the boat with a whole generation and reaping what we have sown over the years, a mass exodus from the church.
Dr. Tim Kimmel says, “a passionate love for Jesus Christ that shows itself in an unquenchable love and concern for others,” is what we want for our children (Tim Kimmel, Raising Truly Great Kids workbook, 26). The question though, is what are some ways to attain this? First, like I have been challenging, we need to decide that they are young adults and no longer children once they hit the teen years. We need to stop giving them excuses to continue childish behavior.Our youth groups and homes should be encouraging them to deal with their fears and doubting regarding their faith. Help them work through these doubts and fears in an intelligible manner, and at the same time helping them discern the truth from error. “If they are not encouraged to express their doubts, one of two things could happen, both of which are grave: Either they will suppress all questions and adopt a blind faith or they will be easily swayed by fine-sounding yet false arguments against Christianity and end up with a dead faith” (Chris Sherrod, Apologetics for a New Generation, 170).
Next we need to be implementing sound doctrine into our young adult’s lives. In a recent poll by Newsweek and Beliefnet, 68% of evangelical Christians believed that if you lived a good enough life then you do not need to believe in Jesus Christ to get to Heaven (Jerry Adler, “In Search of the Spiritual,” Newsweek, September 5, 2005, 48-49: cited in McDowell, The Last Christian Generation, 34). “Churchgoers today are amazingly ignorant about foundational Christian beliefs and why they matter, due mainly to their lack of personal Bible study and the tendency of churches to emphasize life-enchantment principles over biblical exposition and doctrine” (Sherrod, Ibid.).
Lastly, we need to be equipping in apologetics, which will strengthen them in their defense of the faith (1 Corinthians 15:14-17). The majority of “Christian” college students cannot intelligently defend or explain their beliefs, which I found through first hand experience as a Seminary professor and as a director of campus ministry. They lack the evidence to support their faith. Colossians 4:5-6, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” “They must understand that faith is not belief in spite of the evidence, that believing does not make something true, and that sincerity is not all that counts. Biblical faith is trusting in what you have reason to believe is true, which makes the object of your faith what really matters” (Sherrod, 171).
We need to start building all these foundations into our young adults, and be able to say to them: 1 Corinthians 1:11, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”
Next we need to be implementing sound doctrine into our young adult’s lives. In a recent poll by Newsweek and Beliefnet, 68% of evangelical Christians believed that if you lived a good enough life then you do not need to believe in Jesus Christ to get to Heaven (Jerry Adler, “In Search of the Spiritual,” Newsweek, September 5, 2005, 48-49: cited in McDowell, The Last Christian Generation, 34). “Churchgoers today are amazingly ignorant about foundational Christian beliefs and why they matter, due mainly to their lack of personal Bible study and the tendency of churches to emphasize life-enchantment principles over biblical exposition and doctrine” (Sherrod, Ibid.).
Lastly, we need to be equipping in apologetics, which will strengthen them in their defense of the faith (1 Corinthians 15:14-17). The majority of “Christian” college students cannot intelligently defend or explain their beliefs, which I found through first hand experience as a Seminary professor and as a director of campus ministry. They lack the evidence to support their faith. Colossians 4:5-6, “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.” “They must understand that faith is not belief in spite of the evidence, that believing does not make something true, and that sincerity is not all that counts. Biblical faith is trusting in what you have reason to believe is true, which makes the object of your faith what really matters” (Sherrod, 171).
We need to start building all these foundations into our young adults, and be able to say to them: 1 Corinthians 1:11, “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”Impact our young adult generation and change our culture for Christ!
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