According to

the Southern Baptist Convention's Council on Family Life, 85 percent of

the children raised in evangelical homes leave church at the age of 18,

never to return. This tragic statistic can be interpreted to mean that

85 out of 100 kids presently enrolled in our children and youth departments

will be out of the church when it comes to their own personal choice!

Indeed, the law says that at age 18, the youth are free to do what they

like. And one of the things they like to do is drop out of church. Why?

Let me give you what I think.

First, too

many kids who live in "evangelical" homes see a whole lot of

hypocrisy. Mom and Dad, thinking they take their cues from the radical

right of religion, pose themselves at home as pious parents who are more

interested in their kids doing right than in their kids. They dig a huge

gulf between themselves and their kids by placing un-attainable expectations

that only Jesus and maybe the Apostle Paul could fulfill. Basically, the

kids can't find any fun in home life, which is interpreted by them a resultant

of church. Therefore, they don't want any more of it. Out of here, they

say.

Second, I believe

another reason 85 percent of the children never return is that in many

homes, they see their parents live a different life than what their parents

present at church. It is another form of hypocrisy. At church, Mom and

Dad are sweet, wonderful, and Christ-like. Get them at home, however,

and they cuss like sailors, drink like fish, and never have a spiritual

thought. Children, again, see this kind of life as insincere. Children,

consequently, learn that Christianity is empty and full of deceit. They

prefer to relate to people who are honest whether they go to church or

not.

A big third

reason that our children stay away in droves is that our churches are

too stiff and starched. I have been in churches where one would be afraid

to show the slightest amount of emotion or even motion. The service is

dry and dead (have you heard the joke about the little boy who asked his

mother in which (branch of service) his father died in, "Mom, was

it the morning or evening service?)."

More churches

than not fairly well resemble a funeral. As I think about it, I have seen

more life in some funeral homes than in a whole lots of churches. But,

you know what I mean, that is, how people whisper as they visit a funeral

home. Who will they disturb? Children and teenagers want to go where the

action is. That's why folks flocked around Jesus everywhere he went: he

was the life of any party going on. Most churches today act like they

serve a pre-resurrection Christ. Some way, we must brighten our church

houses; we must stir up the musicians to bring in some upbeat music.

To conclude,

what do we do as we face this alarming statistic: yawn and live through

another boring service or do we take action? If we want the pre-18 crowd

to hang around when they don't have to hang around, we must come around

to their ideas of what looks alive. Jesus is alive. But, we portray him

as dead. All our young people want is the truth. If we say that Jesus

is alive, then present him as alive, not dead.

Don't know

about you, but I want to go paint some of our drab church walls with bright

colors. We've got to do something!

The Rev.

Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of

River's Edge Community Church

1091 South Jeff Davis Drive

Fayetteville, Georgia 30215

770-719-0303

Back

to the Top of the Page