Lead Worship

Essential Church – Chapter 1: My Faith Is Not My Parents’ Faith

Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Brian Sparks.
Categories: Essential Church.

“We heard Joe talk at length about his parents, how they continued to love him and reach out to him during this time in his life. But their reason for going back to church was simply, ‘You need to get back in church.’

“This line of conviction and argumentation perhaps worked with older generations, but it does not resonate with the latest generation of young adults…

“Our research revealed what many pastors and church leaders already know anecdotally: the youngest generation doesn’t necessarily leave their faith; rather they leave their church” (page 27).

“80 percent of high school students do not plan to leave their church once they graduate” (page 28).

“To be blunt, God has converted our children, but we have failed to disciple them. Our children grow up in the church and experience all the programs and fellowship, but they do not engage the truths of Scripture” (page 30).

“But the church is not capturing and engaging these students’ spiritual interests. In fact, the church is doing the opposite. We’re losing them because the church is uninteresting to them.
“The major source of disillusionment within the church stems not from the expected differences of worship style wars, time slots, day of worship, or even geographic location of the church. While some do leave for these oft-stated reasons, the major loss originates from the lack of discipleship within our churches” (page 32).

“Church is not a chore, no should it be viewed as such. Lost somewhere is the idea that we are to grow discipled warriors fro God. Church can be fun; fellowship is many times viewed as one of the essential purposes of the church. But our churches should produce and grow disciplined, God-glorifying people, not callow Christians” (page 35).

“At issue in many churches are the vast number of programs and ’spots to fill.’ Our youth see adults in the church begrudgingly serving in areas for which they have little passion. They see their parents and others getting sucked into the vacuum of church service. But if we show these young adults that serving the church is more about using their God-given gifts and less about filling a spot in a program, they are less likely to want to break from church” (page 36).

“Churches should not attempt to ’sell’ this generation on church. They want their church to be authentic and real. They want the truth, even if they disagree with it. They want to know where you stand. They may not like it at first, but they will respect you…Fanciness may attract a crowd for a while, but assimilation will never occur unless a church is truly authentic, transparent, and real…And we should be training and discipling them, placing them in pertinent leadership roles and holding them accountable. When the bar is set high and excellence is demanded, the church will then attract and keep those who truly seek to assimilate and make a difference in ministry” (page 39).

“The signs of a more intense drought are occurring in our great country. It has been going for some time; it is a drought in our churches. This drought stretches from coast to coast. With many people-particularly young adults-leaving the church every week, the church needs to get back to the basics.
“We must pray for a pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Our society needs water, but it has abandoned the fountain of living water and dug cisterns for itself-a double evil because the Lord is abandoned and people resort to their own pursuits (see Jer. 2:13). The powers of darkness are bringing the heat and causing extreme spiritual droughts” ( page 43-44).

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