Why Are We Losing Young People?

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Godzchild

How right you are. I have let my children know after they knew of the TPC tragady that there was anger at first, but after much prayer, I am no longer angry, maybe hurt but allowing God to heal the hurt while praying for everyone who was and is a part of this tragady, including TB.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Sincere young men were mentored in churches that preached the gospel, Spirit and Truth. Unfortunately sometimes tacked on to that truth were the traditions and attitudes of man. Along came a generation that questioned the additions and let it be known that they didn't see it the way it was handed down to them. And here we are today, recovering from the backlash. Some have softened their approach. Some have broken away to rebuild. Some have fallen by the wayside their spirits wounded and broken. Some are just hardened and have walked away. Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!

[RandyWayne]

ANY lies that are told to anyone will have that person questioning everything else once those lies are discovered. Whether it be all the many holiness standards that make up the classic pentecostal "look!" or whether it be the disdain that so many of the older generation have for science and scientists, which can really turn a young persons mind upside down once they enter college and have REAL physics and chemistry classes which are (surprise surprise) somewhat at odds with the Children's Bible Pop-Up book version of things which they were taught in Sunday school.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

ANY lies that are told to anyone will have that person questioning everything else once those lies are discovered. Whether it be all the many holiness standards that make up the classic pentecostal "look!" or whether it be the disdain that so many of the older generation have for science and scientists, which can really turn a young persons mind upside down once they enter college and have REAL physics and chemistry classes which are (surprise surprise) somewhat at odds with the Children's Bible Pop-Up book version of things which they were taught in Sunday school.

Yes, God created Science.

[Timmy]

Why are you losing young people? The internet is to blame, mostly. Makes it easier to see what else is out there. E.g., alternatives to "believe this or die".

[KeptByTheWord]

To answer your question with my own opinion Cindy....

The reason I think we are losing young people is because they have been taught to highly regard and respect a system... i.e. the church and its ministers.... more highly than God himself.

How often I heard the saying while growing up "It ain't Bible, but it's so anyhow" in regards to the clothesline standard questions.

Instead of allowing each individual to follow the leading of the Spirit in their lives, the "system" has taught to honor the man-made rules and laws, instead of following the leading of the Spirit in their lives.

And when those man-made laws, and traditions fail to keep one within its boundaries, and you have not been taught how to allow the Spirit in your life to guide you... then you fall into apostasy and begin to blame God for all that's wrong in the church system... and that is why we are losing young people, because of disillusion with a system that is failed and cracked and broken at its very core...

Yet only when one turns and follows CHRIST and not a church system (pastor/preacher/ministry) will there be a restoration in that life. We don't follow men, we follow Christ. We honor those who work in the ministry, and appreciate all they do, but we do NOT respect or esteem them higher than the Lord himself.

But that is in essence exactly what the current church system has done, is to elevate the "ministry" to such a place that when that ministry fails, as all human nature will... then it destroys the faith of the people.... Satan's perfect plan in action.

[Godzchild]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

To answer your question with my own opinion Cindy....

The reason I think we are losing young people is because they have been taught to highly regard and respect a system... i.e. the church and its ministers.... more highly than God himself.

How often I heard the saying while growing up "It ain't Bible, but it's so anyhow" in regards to the clothesline standard questions.

Instead of allowing each individual to follow the leading of the Spirit in their lives, the "system" has taught to honor the man-made rules and laws, instead of following the leading of the Spirit in their lives.

And when those man-made laws, and traditions fail to keep one within its boundaries, and you have not been taught how to allow the Spirit in your life to guide you... then you fall into apostasy and begin to blame God for all that's wrong in the church system... and that is why we are losing young people, because of disillusion with a system that is failed and cracked and broken at its very core...

Yet only when one turns and follows CHRIST and not a church system (pastor/preacher/ministry) will there be a restoration in that life. We don't follow men, we follow Christ. We honor those who work in the ministry, and appreciate all they do, but we do NOT respect or esteem them higher than the Lord himself.

But that is in essence exactly what the current church system has done, is to elevate the "ministry" to such a place that when that ministry fails, as all human nature will... then it destroys the faith of the people.... Satan's perfect plan in action.

[trialedbyfire]

Originally Posted by Cindy

I will be praying for you and your children, GC. The message may be right, but how it's preached may not always be led by the Spirit. Because kids and young people sometimes see the "image" only. And others see "through" it to the spirit behind it. Sadly that is where bitterness enters. This also happens to adults, and is passed down to their children, and so it spreads.

I think what you said in this post, the statement in bold letters, basically sums up the issue.

I crinch sometimes when I hear preachers preach. There's only one pastor I've been under in my entire life that I've felt comfortable taking new converts or interested individuals to listen to at all times, and that was my pastor back home in DC, which is why I attended his church for so long. He preaches the truth, preaches strongly against sin, but I have never heard him be purposely offensive or outright disrespectful. I sat under pastors who will preach and mention young people over the pulpit and use them as examples for "what not to do" or spread their sin over the pulpit, to my shock and dismay, and personally wanted to walk out of the church, and I wasn't even the point and topic of the conversation. I've sat under pastors and in churches where I quite frankly didn't feel comfortable bringing the lost to the church. I've felt more comfortable in some cases having people come to my own home with a select saints from the church I know can handle evangelism, and work with them myself to receive the Holy Ghost, because I've seen people who are "working" with the lost for them to receive the spirit of God doing all sorts of insanity. Grabbing their throats, putting their hands on their jaw and moving their mouths up and down, telling them they can't get a drink of water because the Devil's trying to distract them.

I've held it in for a long time, out of respect and out of respect for order and decency, even when I've been admonished for not inviting enough people to church, I've literally wanted to say I can't invite people to this mess, they'd think I'm nuts, your nuts, and we're all nuts and it's not just because we dance and speak in tongues it's because some of us actually are nuts.

I guess when you get to much "man" in the church and not enough of God you get these problems.

Going to the young people, I was thinking about today's society and how many distractions there are for young people, and even young people in the church. Ipads, Ipods, cellphones, tv, internet, facebook, twitter, etc. People don't even know how to put together whole sentences because the majority of what they say and read on any given day is in the confines of 140 characters on twitter. Young people are not being taught critical thinking skills, they are being constantly dumbed down by the media, I mean I have the opportunity to go out on the streets and witness to some of these young people and have seen just the gradual dumbing down of society.

And we as the saints of God have an obligation to reach out to these souls, and in order to do that we can't just hand them tracks about Acts 2:38 and the godhead and expect them to read it, comply, and run to the church on Sunday. I think some people feel like passing out tracts is witnessing, and that's one of my biggest pet peeves. I gave him a "Understanding the Godhead in 3 Steps" tract, yeup that'll get him off drugs.

While all this is going on our own young people go astray because we don't offer them anything but a set of "dos and don'ts" and tell them if they leave the church they're going to Hell. I get aggravated with parents who think that by taking their kids to church on Sunday and Wednesday night they're doing their jobs as Christian parents. Your children are in church generally 6 to 7 hours a week, but in school being brainwashed by the world monday-friday from 8am to 3pm and you're surprised that they're distracted by the world?

Even the kids in the church have no desire to know Christ, because the truth is a lot of the adults in the church don't really know Christ. They know Apostolic doctrine. They don't know Jesus. Church has now become something we do because we don't want to go to Hell, rather then something we do to come together to touch the throne of Heaven and experience God. Young people are distracted by the world because they're not interested in going to church, hearing the pastor preach and never seeing any results.

The Bible stresses instilling the word of God, and it has to be the parents, not the pastor. We have to put the word of God in our children from day one, and I mean overload them with it. It can't just be Bible stories, we have to fall in love with the Word of God as a body and stop simply relying on comfortable and fiery preaching to keep us and the youth of our churches. There's a lot of shouting going on in the churches now, lots of dogmatic preaching, lots of "I'm going to Heaven and you're not because...", but not a lot of loving Jesus. It seems like more and more I go to churches and it's like a bunch of people sitting in a building with the door locked and Jesus is standing outside the doorstep of his own house with the weak and damaged soul of a sinner in his hand knocking on the door asking "Can we please come in?"

[KeptByTheWord]

Originally Posted by trialedbyfire

I think what you said in this post, the statement in bold letters, basically sums up the issue.

I crinch sometimes when I hear preachers preach. There's only one pastor I've been under in my entire life that I've felt comfortable taking new converts or interested individuals to listen to at all times, and that was my pastor back home in DC, which is why I attended his church for so long. He preaches the truth, preaches strongly against sin, but I have never heard him be purposely offensive or outright disrespectful. I sat under pastors who will preach and mention young people over the pulpit and use them as examples for "what not to do" or spread their sin over the pulpit, to my shock and dismay, and personally wanted to walk out of the church, and I wasn't even the point and topic of the conversation. I've sat under pastors and in churches where I quite frankly didn't feel comfortable bringing the lost to the church. I've felt more comfortable in some cases having people come to my own home with a select saints from the church I know can handle evangelism, and work with them myself to receive the Holy Ghost, because I've seen people who are "working" with the lost for them to receive the spirit of God doing all sorts of insanity. Grabbing their throats, putting their hands on their jaw and moving their mouths up and down, telling them they can't get a drink of water because the Devil's trying to distract them.

I've held it in for a long time, out of respect and out of respect for order and decency, even when I've been admonished for not inviting enough people to church, I've literally wanted to say I can't invite people to this mess, they'd think I'm nuts, your nuts, and we're all nuts and it's not just because we dance and speak in tongues it's because some of us actually are nuts.

I guess when you get to much "man" in the church and not enough of God you get these problems.

Going to the young people, I was thinking about today's society and how many distractions there are for young people, and even young people in the church. Ipads, Ipods, cellphones, tv, internet, facebook, twitter, etc. People don't even know how to put together whole sentences because the majority of what they say and read on any given day is in the confines of 140 characters on twitter. Young people are not being taught critical thinking skills, they are being constantly dumbed down by the media, I mean I have the opportunity to go out on the streets and witness to some of these young people and have seen just the gradual dumbing down of society.

And we as the saints of God have an obligation to reach out to these souls, and in order to do that we can't just hand them tracks about Acts 2:38 and the godhead and expect them to read it, comply, and run to the church on Sunday. I think some people feel like passing out tracts is witnessing, and that's one of my biggest pet peeves. I gave him a "Understanding the Godhead in 3 Steps" tract, yeup that'll get him off drugs.

While all this is going on our own young people go astray because we don't offer them anything but a set of "dos and don'ts" and tell them if they leave the church they're going to Hell. I get aggravated with parents who think that by taking their kids to church on Sunday and Wednesday night they're doing their jobs as Christian parents. Your children are in church generally 6 to 7 hours a week, but in school being brainwashed by the world monday-friday from 8am to 3pm and you're surprised that they're distracted by the world?

Even the kids in the church have no desire to know Christ, because the truth is a lot of the adults in the church don't really know Christ. They know Apostolic doctrine. They don't know Jesus. Church has now become something we do because we don't want to go to Hell, rather then something we do to come together to touch the throne of Heaven and experience God. Young people are distracted by the world because they're not interested in going to church, hearing the pastor preach and never seeing any results.

The Bible stresses instilling the word of God, and it has to be the parents, not the pastor. We have to put the word of God in our children from day one, and I mean overload them with it. It can't just be Bible stories, we have to fall in love with the Word of God as a body and stop simply relying on comfortable and fiery preaching to keep us and the youth of our churches. There's a lot of shouting going on in the churches now, lots of dogmatic preaching, lots of "I'm going to Heaven and you're not because...", but not a lot of loving Jesus. It seems like more and more I go to churches and it's like a bunch of people sitting in a building with the door locked and Jesus is standing outside the doorstep of his own house with the weak and damaged soul of a sinner in his hand knocking on the door asking "Can we please come in?"

I would like to nominate this post as THE POST OF THE DAY!



I can't agree more, or add anything to what you've said.

[Cindy]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

I would like to nominate this post as THE POST OF THE DAY!



I can't agree more, or add anything to what you've said.

Amen