Drew Dyck:
Over the past year I've conducted dozens of interviews with 20-somethings who have walked away from their Christian faith. Among the most surprising findings was this: nearly all of these "leavers" reported having positive experiences in youth group. I recall my conversation with one young man who described his journey from evangelical to atheist. He had nothing but vitriol for the Christian beliefs of his childhood, but when I asked him about youth group, his voice lifted. "Oh, youth group was a blast! My youth pastor was a great guy."
I was confused. I asked Josh Riebock, a former youth pastor and author of mY Generation, to solve the riddle: if these young people had such a good time in youth group, why did they ditch their faith shortly after heading to college?
His response was simple. "Let's face it," he said. "There are a lot more fun things to do at college than eat pizza."
Read the rest.
3 comments:
I thoroughly enjoyed being in involved in a youth group as a teen, and I enjoyed working in youth groups during my college days. But as an adult I've gradually come to the conclusion that churches would be wise to eliminate youth groups and instead try to incorporate the youth into the body of the church.
I bet Anonymous is Voddie Baucham. That dude jacked up my view of youth ministry.
maybe the body of the church should incorporate itself into the youth groups
face it, teenagers don't want to come to church and sit on their butt for 2 hours and then be dragged home by their parents
they want to express their gifts and talents, they want to experience the gifts of their peers, they want to be grow, to be given responsibility
youth groups usually find someway to be involved in missions, they find a way to serve, to be part of the "world" body of christ
but in "real" church all of that is done committee where teenagers are not welcome
its no wonder so many leave
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