Pass it on
July 3, 2024 | Dana Qualls
Every year young parents stand in front of the congregation and promise to teach their babies about Jesus and bring them up to have a strong faith. The Church also stands and promises to support these young families in this endeavor. This is not just a ritual but a covenant we make with them. So how are we doing? When you Google, “how many young people leave their faith when they enter college,” you find statistics stating that “80% leave their faith by the time they graduate,” (The Barna Group) or “70% leave the church during college,” (Lifeway Christian). So how can we help keep the minds of our youth and young adults focused on Jesus?
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
As the young nation of Israel entered the promise land, God warned that they would face ungodly nations in the Promised Land and these practices would help them remember whose they were, where they came from, and how to teach others what God had done for them. Likewise, we want to prepare our young people for the ungodly forces they will face into adulthood. Deuteronomy says we must keep scripture in front of our children. To remember it they must see it and hear it often. Some suggestions on how to do this are to write scripture on the napkins in their lunch box each day and on their bathroom mirror. Talk about insights you received in your Bible study that day or during a sermon. Ask what they talked about in Bible class. Read scripture with your children and grandchildren. Ask open-ended questions about what they think about God, Jesus, and their faith and pray with them. Point them to the Psalms for comfort or Proverbs for advice. Ask them where they see God working in their lives. Encourage them to search for answers from trusted adults, as well as family, then ask what they learned.
Recently, we witnessed a Group Leader baptize a young man he had mentored. This is the natural progression of investing in the next generation. We fulfill the promise made to them way back during Baby Dedication by volunteering to be a teacher in Kids or a Group Leader in Elementary, Middle School, or High School. Young people need strong Christian men and women besides their parents who they can talk to about faith issues. We have to model what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. To have a solid relationship with Jesus, our young people need a relationship with the church.
The need for connection with strong Christians doesn’t end at graduation. A proven way to stay connected is to join a group. Kingsway has groups of all ages, but if there isn’t one that works for you, ask someone ahead of you in their faith journey to sponsor your group. As you grow in your faith, volunteer to be a group leader. You need a relationship with God, but you don’t have to be a Bible scholar to lead. Young men, join a group with men of all ages and get to know Godly men you can imitate. Older men, strike up a conversation with a younger man. Get involved in his life and pray with him on a regular basis. Ladies, we have several women’s groups, or you might know an older woman whom you respect with a deep faith. Ask her to mentor you, then meet regularly for lunch just to talk about life and how God is working. Older women, look for a younger woman who may need an older sister or mother figure in her life. Get to know her. Encourage her and walk through life with her for a time.
Young Christians need to see how it looks to be a disciple of Jesus. Seasoned Christians are instructed to teach our younger members about Jesus. If those of us who have been walking this path for a long time don’t show others how it looks to be a disciple of Christ, who will? Let’s be a Church focused on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and invest in the generations to come! Hear, O Kingsway Church!