in the past decade there has been a trend in many churches. i have seen that many churches have tried to become more cool, cute, or trendy. much of this has to do with competing with the next church to keep or attract members. i have heard countless people tell me stories of how their church or the church down the road has dumbed it down to try and reach people. some call it “seeker sensitive” and others call it “being relevant”. i am afraid that our attempts to be cool or seeker friendly or whatever have backfired.(click here to read more about this)
i dont want you to hear me say that churches that remained traditional are the ones who are doing it right. i think there are many traditional churches who are guilty of the same problem but in a different way. i also dont want you to hear me say that all churches who have become progressive or modern are doing it wrong. my point is this. in our attempts to become more hip and cool we have become very shallow. the church thought that if we simplify the message and cookie cut the service and play a fun video then unchurched people will think we are cool and want to join the faith. what began for some as good intentions may actually be the absolute wrong thing to do.
here is why. young people today are dealing with real life issues. they do not want a shallow, basic, 1-2-3 sermon to make all their problems go away. they want real answers to real problems. they are far more complex than we give them credit for. they are far more hungry than we even realize. teenagers and college students are looking for the answer. they havent seen it work for their parents. they havent seen it work in our government. they havent seen it work in hollywood. and they are not finding it at church.
we are shallow and misinformed about our young people in america. are you offended that i am blasting the church? ok good. now i have your attention. do your own survey of 20 somethings in your city. most teenagers leave church when they graduate. some say 70% and some say as many as 86% of all teenagers who attend church drop out and do not return to church as soon as they graduate high school. if you survey teenagers in your own youth group today you will find that almost none of them even know basic christian doctrine. they do not even know the basics. most of them cant even tell you a biblical answer for salvation. most teenagers cannot even quote more than 3 verses from the bible. sad? very sad.
we have become so shallow and dont even realize it. we think we are having good services on sundays but the truth is, that is all they are, services. and to tell you the truth, most people are bored out of their minds. maybe its time for us to seek the face of God and quit playing church. maybe we need to rethink our entire approach.
what about you? what do you think?
now if you are a pastor and want to know how to deal with this issue i have something you might find helpful. click here.
and now to explain myself. the above post hasnt been written because i hate the church. the opposite is true. i have a tremendous burden for the thousands of young people i encounter each week across this country. i care about people. i want to see people find the answer. im just afraid that we are not giving it to them. my hope is that pastors, leaders, and believers everywhere will open their eyes to a huge problem. my goal is for you to start dialogue with people in your community. i am not picking a fight. i dont want you to pick a fight with anyone else. we just need to act.
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so what do you (readers) think about his post? i, personally... completely agree.
