81, 61, 19, 20. Numbers that are shocking when the information that they represent is filled in. 81% of teens attend a church for at least 2-months during their teen years. 61% of twenty somethings do not attend church even though they attended church for a period of at least 2-months during their teen years. That means that 20% of teens maintain the same level of church involvement into their 20s, and 19% of 20-somethings were not in church during their teen years and do not attend church during their 20-something years (statistics courtesy of The Barna Group www.barna.org). Though my source for these statistics is a few years old, I think that they still apply today.
What is the cause of this shocking decline in church attendance? Though I am no expert, I feel it is because the youth's faith was not authentic, deep, personal, or encouraged. Far too often a successful youth program was more of a social club for teens. While I am not against social gatherings (and even find them beneficial), if that is as far as we go, we are doing a disservice to youth.
So how do I think we can fix this disturbing statistic? Glad you asked... though I am no expert, I feel that a four pillar approach to Youth Ministry will help turn this disturbing trend around (though it may take some time).
1st pillar:
The first step is the most important, and that is to involve the family. A successful youth ministry is one in which the youth minister (or director, pastor, etc.) seeks to actively engage the families of the youth. There should be special youth gatherings in which the families are invited to attend. In these the students and families will interact with each other and hear solid biblical teaching to encourage each member of the family in their respective role. There should also be gatherings where only parents attend. (in which things can be discussed that may not be appropriate for the youth or other children to hear). These gatherings are meant to provide the atmosphere where parents can discuss their concerns and the concerns facing their children and receive encouragement and solid biblical teaching to equip them to raise a teen and encourage them toward godliness. (realizing that we do not live in a perfect world and that not everyone's parents will want to be involved, volunteers within the church should be recruited to invest in the lives of the teens). The goal is to get the families involved and equipped to teach their children spiritual truths from scripture.
2nd pillar:
The 2nd pillar of youth ministry (and just as important as the 1st pillar) is solid biblical teaching. Each gathering, whether social or not should have some varying degree of biblical teaching. Youth ministry is first and foremost a ministry and should therefore always have a period of time in which the Words is opened and taught. My personal belief is that expository preaching is the most effective way to teach the Word because it helps to keep everything in context and continues to build upon itself the further along you go in the teaching. The expository preaching should rightly divide scripture to teach proper theology, sound doctrine, the truth of scripture, how scripture applies to us, and how it all points to Christ and the redemption of the church. The goal of this pillar (and the third pillar) is to save the lost youth and disciple the saved youth to a deeper relationship with Christ and deeper, authentic, understanding of their faith.
3rd pillar:
In conjunction with the 2nd pillar, the 3rd pillar is to look deeper into scripture through studying the Bible. This approach is more of a study/discussion approach to the scripture in which we will read through scripture together and dive deeper into it (consulting parallel passages and biblically sound works) to determine further meaning and application of the scripture. The goal is to seek to practically apply the scripture and learn how to properly interpret the scripture ourselves; to teach the youth to get out of their "highchair" and feed themselves the spiritual nourishment found in scripture.
4th pillar:
The 4th pillar is a practical education and application approach (it could also be referred to as a missional approach). The purpose of this pillar is to teach the youth how to practically share their faith, have a quiet time, and pray. And then to put them into practice through acts of service and spending time on their own in the Word. The goal of this pillar is to get the youth to a point where it is natural for them to serve, pray, spend time in the Word on their own, and share the Gospel.
I will be the first to admit that this is not perfect, and I definitely don't have all of the answers. I do, however, know that God has laid this vision on my heart for a purpose, and I am writing this post as more of a reminder to me than anything else.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Friday, September 2, 2011
The Joys of Parenthood... recounting the births of my children and seeing where they are now
I love my kids! Sometimes I am just overwhelmed with love for these two little rascals that are constantly on the go. But... they are exhausting! The nights that Sarah works, I stay home with the kids. Often I find myself going from making dinner at the stove to the kitchen table (to give Simon a snack) to the potty to the laundry closet to get the Swiffer (so that I can clean up the mess that Simon made while I was taking Karis potty) to the kitchen back to the potty... nights like this seem like they go on forever (I am blessed to have an amazing wife that takes care of all of this stuff during the day!!!). With as exhausting as they are now, their births and early days were even more exhausting. Though the experiences were tough, I would not change them for the world!
It's hard to believe that it was almost three years ago (it will be in December) that I became a parent for the first time. We weren't expecting to see our little girl until after the first of the year, but God had different plans. It was a Friday and I was at our church grounds finishing the construction on a cave for a living nativity that our church was putting on and my wife, 8-months pregnant, was painting a backdrop (outside). She worked in the church office so we each had our own car there. I was finished with what I needed to do so I went and kissed her goodbye and told her I was going to swing by the drive through on the way home to get some dinner. From where I was sitting on the couch I could see Sarah walking along the path to our house through the kitchen window and expected to see her through our sliding glass doors. I looked, but I didn't see her. A few minutes later, I found out that I didn't see her because she was having a contraction and had to stop walking until it was over. We were soon on our way to the hospital. We were going to become parents.
Karis entered the world at exactly 10pm. Everything about her was perfect, she seemed fine and immediately let out the loudest cry I had ever heard (and still have not heard a louder one to this day). I remember not knowing what exactly was going on when the doctors and nurses began to make frantic calls and moving about the room as if an emergency were happening. I remember it taking a while for the words Neonatal Intensive Care to sink in. I remember feeling torn on whether I should be with my wife while she recovered from giving birth or being with my daughter as the doctors and nurses were working on her in the NICU. I remember seeing my baby girl in an oxygen tent to help heal the hole that had been created in her lung. I remember the pain of not being able to hold my baby girl for the first 24 hours of her life (and having very little physical contact because the doctors didn't want her to be disturbed). I remember feeling sorry for all of the other parents in NICU, some of whom would never experience the joy that we felt a week after Karis was born when we brought her home from the hospital. I remember my first dance with her in front of our Christmas tree in our small 2-bedroom apartment. I remember being scared when I realized that she had stopped breathing one day when we got home from a family trip. I remember spending the night in the hospital with my wife while they ran tests on our 3-month old little girl. Those were tough experiences... that I would not trade for the world. All of those things forced Sarah and I closer to each other and forced us to rely on God. Now we have a beautiful little girl that loves sitting in Daddy's lap (and has me wrapped around her little finger), that will lay in her bed for hours without falling asleep so that she can see Mommy when she gets home from work, that has a unique personality all her own, and that I love very much.
My little guy, Simon (champ, buddy, booger, mister, or whatever I feel like calling him for the day), is about to turn one. I remember his birth like it was yesterday.I remember watching Sarah, as the trooper she is, bringing this life into the world. I remember the fear I felt when the doctor told me that we needed to get the baby out NOW because he was in distress. I remember seeing my son for the first time, a very purple baby with a little lifeless-looking body. I remember not hearing his first breath immediately. I remember the relief that I felt when I heard him take his first breath what seemed like hours after he entered the world (though it was only about 10-20 seconds). I remember many mid-night wakings and zombie-like trips to the kitchen all because of this little guy. For a long time after his birth (and up to about 3-4 months ago) I used to have to swing him in his car seat in order to get him to fall asleep at night. I would spend about 30 minutes each night in his room swinging him in his car seat like those swinging ships that are so popular at fairs/carnivals (if I swung him any less, he would scream his head off). With sweat dripping down my face and an arm that felt like it was going to fall off (again) I would pray that God would get him to a point that he would fall asleep on his own. Sometimes I'd get frustrated at the little guy because I NEEDED my sleep and I NEEDED him to be content on his own. As "difficult" as it was for me, it was exponentially more draining on my wife. It is safe to say that we are past those frustrating nights where I had to push through the pain and lost sleep.
With as "difficult" of a baby as he was, he was and is a blessing to have in our family. I now have a little guy with a unique personality all his own. I wouldn't change anything about him or those sleepless nights. Though he is still young, I feel as though he and I are so much alike. My heart is knit to his (just like it is to Karis). I look forward to seeing him grow up and getting even closer to him as he is able to interact more with me. I love Simon!
It sounds cliche, but I do love my kids equally yet differently. Simon is my football buddy, my little champ, my (hopefully) early morning fishing buddy, and my retirement plan (he's gonna be an awesome left tackle)(obviously I kid). Karis is my little girl. And she knows it!
It's hard to believe that it was almost three years ago (it will be in December) that I became a parent for the first time. We weren't expecting to see our little girl until after the first of the year, but God had different plans. It was a Friday and I was at our church grounds finishing the construction on a cave for a living nativity that our church was putting on and my wife, 8-months pregnant, was painting a backdrop (outside). She worked in the church office so we each had our own car there. I was finished with what I needed to do so I went and kissed her goodbye and told her I was going to swing by the drive through on the way home to get some dinner. From where I was sitting on the couch I could see Sarah walking along the path to our house through the kitchen window and expected to see her through our sliding glass doors. I looked, but I didn't see her. A few minutes later, I found out that I didn't see her because she was having a contraction and had to stop walking until it was over. We were soon on our way to the hospital. We were going to become parents.
Karis entered the world at exactly 10pm. Everything about her was perfect, she seemed fine and immediately let out the loudest cry I had ever heard (and still have not heard a louder one to this day). I remember not knowing what exactly was going on when the doctors and nurses began to make frantic calls and moving about the room as if an emergency were happening. I remember it taking a while for the words Neonatal Intensive Care to sink in. I remember feeling torn on whether I should be with my wife while she recovered from giving birth or being with my daughter as the doctors and nurses were working on her in the NICU. I remember seeing my baby girl in an oxygen tent to help heal the hole that had been created in her lung. I remember the pain of not being able to hold my baby girl for the first 24 hours of her life (and having very little physical contact because the doctors didn't want her to be disturbed). I remember feeling sorry for all of the other parents in NICU, some of whom would never experience the joy that we felt a week after Karis was born when we brought her home from the hospital. I remember my first dance with her in front of our Christmas tree in our small 2-bedroom apartment. I remember being scared when I realized that she had stopped breathing one day when we got home from a family trip. I remember spending the night in the hospital with my wife while they ran tests on our 3-month old little girl. Those were tough experiences... that I would not trade for the world. All of those things forced Sarah and I closer to each other and forced us to rely on God. Now we have a beautiful little girl that loves sitting in Daddy's lap (and has me wrapped around her little finger), that will lay in her bed for hours without falling asleep so that she can see Mommy when she gets home from work, that has a unique personality all her own, and that I love very much.
My little guy, Simon (champ, buddy, booger, mister, or whatever I feel like calling him for the day), is about to turn one. I remember his birth like it was yesterday.I remember watching Sarah, as the trooper she is, bringing this life into the world. I remember the fear I felt when the doctor told me that we needed to get the baby out NOW because he was in distress. I remember seeing my son for the first time, a very purple baby with a little lifeless-looking body. I remember not hearing his first breath immediately. I remember the relief that I felt when I heard him take his first breath what seemed like hours after he entered the world (though it was only about 10-20 seconds). I remember many mid-night wakings and zombie-like trips to the kitchen all because of this little guy. For a long time after his birth (and up to about 3-4 months ago) I used to have to swing him in his car seat in order to get him to fall asleep at night. I would spend about 30 minutes each night in his room swinging him in his car seat like those swinging ships that are so popular at fairs/carnivals (if I swung him any less, he would scream his head off). With sweat dripping down my face and an arm that felt like it was going to fall off (again) I would pray that God would get him to a point that he would fall asleep on his own. Sometimes I'd get frustrated at the little guy because I NEEDED my sleep and I NEEDED him to be content on his own. As "difficult" as it was for me, it was exponentially more draining on my wife. It is safe to say that we are past those frustrating nights where I had to push through the pain and lost sleep.
With as "difficult" of a baby as he was, he was and is a blessing to have in our family. I now have a little guy with a unique personality all his own. I wouldn't change anything about him or those sleepless nights. Though he is still young, I feel as though he and I are so much alike. My heart is knit to his (just like it is to Karis). I look forward to seeing him grow up and getting even closer to him as he is able to interact more with me. I love Simon!
It sounds cliche, but I do love my kids equally yet differently. Simon is my football buddy, my little champ, my (hopefully) early morning fishing buddy, and my retirement plan (he's gonna be an awesome left tackle)(obviously I kid). Karis is my little girl. And she knows it!
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