Why Don't Your Kids Go to Church?

You may have heard today's youth described as a "generation of causes." And it's certainly true.

It's why few non-profit organizations ask teens and twenty-somethings for regular monthly donations but, instead, suggest that they purchase bricks or goats or wells instead. As a whole, Generation Y likes--perhaps needs--to physically see the tangible fruits of their time or money in order to get involved in a project.

This attitude has clearly taken its toll on church attendance. Regular church-going, without any measurable statistics to prove that change is occurring, is a hard discipline for many Y's to master. In fact, a new Barna survey has found that 59% of young Christians disconnect from the church after age 15...many never to return. Statistics like these, and real-world evidence of such numbers, have caused more than a few youth-focused ministries to spend less time on life-changing relationships with Jesus and more time on life-changing social projects.

For example, the United Methodist Church has started a new initiative called Spark12 that is designed to give youth a cause to fight for, rather than just a church to go to.

Passion conference attendees recently raised about $3 million dollars to help end slavery and child trafficking around the world.

A church in New York regularly encourages congregants to reach into their community and "serve humanity in fellowship, that all may grow in harmony with the good."

Please hear me: none of these activities is bad. Actually, they are each very good. My concern is that (inadvertantly) we may be teaching an entire generation to, essentially, "be good for goodness' sake." But, unfortunately, goodness' sake isn't good enough. We need to be good for God's sake.

In Matthew 25, Jesus explains that it is not just good to help those who are hungry or thirsty or naked or in prison, but those things are an actual reflection of our love for him. Jesus says to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Fighting against social injustices should be an outflow of our relationship with Christ, not the sum total of it. If Jesus himself isn't powerful enough to lead the next generation to care for the lost and the broken and the needy, why would we expect that by exclusively caring for the lost and the broken and the needy it will lead the next generation to Jesus?

Should the church care about the physical needs of those in their community and around the world? Of course. But, without Jesus as both the means and the end of such care, church ceases to be church and starts to be nothing more than charity.

The Best Way to Get Jesus into Schools

One of the most controversial things I have ever said on the radio came when I suggested that many Christians may not realize what they're asking for when they demand that prayer and Jesus and Christianity be allowed in our public schools.

As our Constitution is set up, any government institution that opens itself to one religion must also open itself to all religions. The first amendment says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." It's not that Jesus can't be present, it's that--if he is--then Mohammed and Buddha and everyone else have to be allowed in as well.

For the last 235 years Christians haven't had to worry about other faiths stepping on our toes. We have enjoyed our religious freedom because, frankly, there hasn't been anyone else exercising theirs. But in the 21st century we're faced with a problem: people of other faiths are demanding the same rights as us.

My original point was, if religion is going to be an "all" or "nothing" proposition in school, then I choose "nothing." And now, fourteen months later, the primary reason for my concern is being played out in dramatic fashion in North Carolina.

After The Gideons International delivered several boxes of Bibles to Windy Ridge intermediate school, administrators allowed students who wanted one to come by the office and get a copy. When a concerned parent questioned that decision, the school assured her that they would make available religious texts donated by any group.

What the school didn't know was that the parent in question, Ginger Strivelli, practiced Witchcraft...and she wanted to distribute pagan spell books at the school.

Oops.

It is incredibly narrow-minded and short-sighted to believe that by advocating for "freedom of religion" in the public square Christians are merely opening our kids up to periodically lighting a Menorah or singing an African harvest song once a year. How might you react if your child brought home a book of witch spells that he picked up from the school secretary? Are you okay with a student praying to Allah over the school intercom? How about your daughter sitting next to a guy in class who is allowed to carry a small, religious knife?

(Can't happen? Last year a Michigan school made headlines for allowing members of the Sikh faith to carry small, symbolic knife known as the Kirpan.)

Witches believe they are religious. So do Sikhs. And so do Satan worshipers. And the harder we fight to get Jesus into our schools, the harder we are fighting to get all of the rest in with him.

Given the scope of our Constitution and the inherent risks associated with our current approach, it seems to me that the only good way to get Christ into public schools is to put him inside our kids before they go.