The woes of Twenty-something Christianity
The devil has set his sites on another group of American Christians:
the Twenty-somethings.
In 2004, I had the distinct privilege of spending one-on-one and small-group
time alone with some kids from the local university of 8,000 students. We did
this in Sunday evenings at six o’clock. On several occasions, we virtually
spotlighted particular individuals as the Lord allowed, not only me, but all of
us, to minister in different ways to that night’s “favored” student. There were
laughs. There were tears. There was deep relationship.
As a result of these relationships, when my own air conditioning unit broke
down at home, I spent several nights with one young man who had several
vacant bedrooms while his roommates were gone. On another occasion, one
of the young ladies, after a family dispute, walked over to my house to talk
and cry and pray. Another girl joined us after a cell phone call and we prayed
some more. Another young man came by late one night to discuss his
pornography struggles and to receive prayer. Other relationships were
solidified and, out of that group, I have performed two weddings already.
There’s much to be said for relationship.
In each instance, we were a group of God’s children, breaking bread and
fellowshipping together, growing in our horizontal as well as our vertical
relationships. It was great fun and I sincerely believe that the concept of
“BEING the Church” as opposed to merely “GOING to Church” sank in with
most of them. We were definitely “churching it up.”
If I had to pinpoint one thing that seems to make the greatest difference in the
lives of young people, it’s the amount of TIME we are willing to invest in them.
To the human mind, love itself may as well be spelled T-I-M-E.
OLD-TIME RELIGION VS. THE LATEST STATISTICS
Where the act of church-going among twenty-somethings is concerned, I
recently became aware of a Barna Research Group survey that was quite telling.
It seems that, no matter how actively involved in church a teen-ager may have
been, between age 20 and 29, the statistics among this group become quite
dismal. According to the survey, these kids see no relevance in their lives for
the religious activities of their parents. They want to be mentored. They want
to see someone who is living the life successfully and is willing to invest the
TIME to teach them how to apply this stuff to the benefit of their own lives.
As one college student whose been attending our Thursday night Prayer clinic
admitted, “I’m tired of reading about all this [miracles, spiritual warfare, etc].
I wanna be around people that are doing it.”
This “me” generation can see no reason for placing their allegiance in something
that, on the surface, seems to actually work AGAINST all that they believe to be
important at this phase of their lives. They want to know who they’ll marry, if
they should complete their education, if they’ll find a job…important stuff! How
are they supposed to handle teachings that tell them to deny themselves and
become a servant of all?
So, in seeking the path of least resistance, the majority abandon all that they
once claimed was important to them spiritually.
The research, conducted by Barna with 2,660 twenty-somethings, shows that
Americans in their twenties are significantly less likely than any other age group
to attend church services (3 out of 10 weekly), to donate to churches (3 out of
10 give anything at all), to be absolutely committed to Christianity (3 out of 10),
to read the Bible (3 out of 10), or to serve as a volunteer or lay leader in churches
(less than 4%).
Regarding church attendance, the study revealed that it reaches rock bottom
during the late 20s - when the vast majority of students have transitioned from
college education to joining the workforce. Just 22% of those from age 25 to 29
attended church last week. Of the twenty-somethings who were active church-
attenders in their teens (when more than half attended church each week), from
high school graduation to age 25 there is a 42% drop in weekly church attendance
and a 58% decline from age 18 to age 29.
That’s nearly 8 MILLION twenty-somethings alive today who were active
church-goers as teenagers but who will NOT be active in a church when their
30th birthday rolls around.
READ THAT AGAIN!
IS THERE A BRIGHT SIDE?
Let’s accentuate the positive.
The half FULL glass tells me that a whopping 33% of all American Christian
kids from age 20 to 29 are staying faithful to the faith of their fathers. One out
of three. That’s all.
More than 8 out of 10 (80%) said that their religious faith is very important in
their life (I’m trying to remain positive but it STILL reflects that only 1/3 attend
church regularly) and nearly 6 out of 10 (57%) claimed to have made a personal
commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life (again, only 1/3
study the Bible - the teachings of Christ, the very One to whom they claim to
be committed - regularly).
The research also showed that young adults are only slightly less likely than
older adults to pray, which might reflect their appetite for personal spiritual
experience.
Three-quarters of young adults in their 20s (75%) said they had prayed to God
in the past week. Great, but I’ve personally heard from far too many kids that
they’re not sure if God’s hearing their prayers or that He isn’t revealing to them
His will for their lives. I cannot help but believe that they might have received
some direction in a pastor’s message or in the pages of the Bible - if they had
only attended Church or read the Bible, that is, BOTH of which the survey says
most are NOT doing.
I can’t really blame Christian kids for getting turned-off regarding church. The
average church-kid is exposed to enough division, dissension, gossip, back-
biting, church splits, divorce, infidelity, tolerance of sin (and some really BAD
teaching to boot) - enough to drop an elephant. Today’s Christian kid is
ridiculously ill-prepared for fighting this spiritual warfare on planet Earth
because they’re being taught by an army of seminarians whose majority,
statistically, don’t even acknowledge the existence of a literal devil and
seriously doubt the inerrancy of Holy Writ.
David Kinnaman, Vice President of the Barna Research Group, and the director
of this study, pointed out that twenty-somethings are one of the first age
groups to widely embrace the postmodern philosophy. “Since the postmodern
viewpoint emphasizes that an individual’s experience and personal insight are
the prime sources of determining what’s important in life,” Kinnaman said, “the
decline in Bible usage is another sign that many twenty-somethings are trying
to make sense of life without traditional sources of Christian input.”
Who has time to spend with these kids? Nobody HAS time, but we MUST
make time. Why the young people? I’ll use Communism to make my point: its
proponents would teach the philosophy
to the young people, give them a gun and send them out to do their bidding.
The Communists understood the untapped radicalism that naturally exists in
the heart of a kid and they “capitalized” on it. No pun intended. How dare we
consider that our kids would want anything to do with our passive,
Romanesque, theatre-style, spectator religion?
PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR MINISTRY
Want a radical idea for ministry to these young folks? Stop ministering to teen-
aged kids and start teaching them HOW to minister. It’s a new view on Church
that might just stay with them as they mature.
Stop meeting in “the building” and start meeting in a coffee shop or deli after
hours (Read Acts 16 and see how Paul handled church-planting). They’ll love
the concept of “BEING” rather than simply “GOING” to church.
Stop meeting Sunday morning and start meeting on the night that works best for
the majority.
Call off service and go eat pizza together or clean-up trash in the neighborhood
(then get together and spiritualize the incident). The break in routine will do
everyone a lot of good.
Pile in a van and conduct a “drive-by blessing,” praying for those in other cars
as the Spirit leads. You might be amazed at what He shows you! Again, we can
be the church 24/7, not just when we enter the building.
Grab the guitars and worship God in the park. Light a fire as the sun goes down.
Talk and pray together as the stars come out. Bring bug spray and blankets.
Bottom line? What we’re doing now - and calling “Church” in the good ol’ USA -
simply isn’t working. It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same
thing over and over and expecting different results. What we Americans refer to as
‘church’ is crazy. The statistics back me up on that account. And we wonder why
these kids are leaving the faith first chance they get.
THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS US.
You know what the problem is, don’t you? The problem is that these young people
aren’t being discipled properly, mainly because WE haven’t been either. They are
being taught that the Church is a building rather than the Body of Christ across the
planet (although most ministers would agree, their actions betray them). They aren’t
being trained in the Doctrine of Christ but, rather, in the traditions and dogmas of
men and of demons.
They’re being taught that Christianity is nothing more than just another religion. It’s
NOT a religion at all - it’s a lifestyle; a lifestyle that’s IMPOSSIBLE to live without the
infilling of God’s precious Holy Spirit. They’re too often being taught that HE - the
Holy Spirit - is NOT a person with character traits who actually DOES things - but
that He is an “it”; a mere “force. Without living, moving and having our being IN
HIM, we have just enough power to attend church services and perhaps bend our
arms at the elbow in worship but not much more. What these young people need is
the POWER to overcome that which comes against them. In my travels, I’ve found
that even the devil-worshiper only wants power and that Satan is all too willing to
reveal that power, just as he was willing to give it to Jesus in their 40-day wilderness
encounter.
These young lions of today want the power to share their faith with supernatural
boldness.
They want the power to heal the sick, cast out demons, even speak in new
tongues and have spiritual dreams and visions.
They want the power to prophecy and move powerfully in the gifts of the spirit,
sharing a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, or sharing a word of encouragement
with one who is weary in due season…and turning their life completely around in the
process! Instead, they’re being told to sit in a pew and listen and…well, act like the
rest of us.
We’re so good at making man in our own image, aren’t we?
Folks, far too many of us want more of Jesus than we’re enjoying in our all-too-dead
Christian lives but we’re afraid to step out of our traditions and ask Him for fear of
being ostracized by dead denominationalists. Ah, the demonic Fear of Man rears its
head again. Go ahead! Get ostracized! Knock over those scared cows (that’s where
the best cuts of meat are found). I can attest that there’s an incredibly glorious way to
live out our faith 24/7 beyond the four walls of our manmade church buildings and the
institution we refer to as “Christianity.”
If you want something you don’t have you must do what you’re not currently doing.
Now, get out there and pour your life and love of Christ into someone in their 20’s.
You old Jesus Freaks…get back in the game! Show them the Jesus you’ve come to know
and love. Do this and you’ll BOTH be blessed beyond measure.
Every blessing,
Michael Tummillo
A servant of God
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