This last week I attended my churches youth gathering. This gathering consisted about two hundred plus teens. As I was preparing to go, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Throughout the week I prayed for guidance from my Savior. I prayed He would help me to keep an open mind.about where I was sending these smart, yet weak, moody, caring, loving, hearts of these young adults. I also asked His guidance to protect them from satin's ability of planting half truths in their lives. This world is in a constant state of change when is come to the truth.Our youth is tossed two and fro trying to cling onto to something which is grounded in truth and in the same way they want to know what the truth really is.Before I explain the positives and negative of the conference, I should explain some of my experiences as a youth group participant in my younger years. To all that will be reading this blog I ask that you keep an open mind, some of you will not agree with me and might even say I'm just knit picking. However if we truly want to help our young adults continue the ministry of the church and become leader in it as-well, there are thing that drastically needs to change with our youth programs.
As a young adult I came from a very small church that consisted of maybe forty members. This church went through pastors very quickly and on top of this the youth were always trying to find there place in the church. Many of the teens just figured it was something we did with our parents on Sunday and church really had nothing to do with the rest of our lives. Growing up I did not attend a Lutheran church, in fact I was kinda of jealous of the Lutheran kids in my school. The Lutheran church offered a midweek confirmation class in which the teens learned even more about God and the beliefs of their church. As I got older up I realize that a large majority of those kids really didn't care about there church and normally did not continue attending church after they were confirmed. Perhaps what bothered me more than anything is that at the time I looked at these kids as someone I could connect with yet when they were at school their faith was not important and rather it was as though they had no faith at all or they were just embarrassed about it or something So I decide to get involve with a youth group thinking it would get me what I need to know more about God and find kids my age that what to serve the Lord as much as I did.
The only church in our 5 town area that had a youth group was the Assembly of God. Now mind you, this was not just a few youth it included the majority of teens I went to school with. That point gave me hope that God was more important to these kids that I previous thought. So I started attending on a regular basis. My main reason for attending was to learn more about God and find a friend or friends who believed the same thing I did. As a teen I felt like everybody is against me and faith put just one more target on the back of my head.
I will tell you one thing, the youth group was fun. The youth group met every Tuesday and had approximately 30 teens looking fora good time in attendance. During our gatherings we would listen to christian music,go bowling, pizza parties, and more fun. Most of the time we would have a devotion yet it was very short and if the fun went long devotion was the first to be dumped. It seem that the adult leader believed that all we wanted was fun. I had an adult explain it to me that there goal was to keep the teens involved no matter how. Yet very few of the kid from the group went to church. I remained hungry for the Word and was not being fed by the very person who wanted the teens involved.
The more I went to youth group the more I realize it was a social club that call themselves Christian, however it was really just another place to segregate people whom they did not like. I did the unthinkable and quit going. I believe that the Lord allows us to fall so we learn to listen to Him and to discover what he has prepare for our live and this was one of those times. I look at the church today now that I am 33 and I notice that my generation is missing from the pews and bible studies. Very few of them have continued to be involved in the church. Most of them still believe that they don't need church. Youth group which was intended to keep kids involved in the Church has miss the mark. As a teen I remember thinking that not only did I feel uncool and but I also felt like the christian Church in general didn't want to share the truth with me. Why would I want to be involved in a group like that. In the end it makes one doubt that the Christian faith is where they belong. I praise God that he knows what we need and that he has given us a tool that is better than any youth group around. He gave us the Bible in which we can discover his plan for us. As the pages unfold we learn the most important thing and that is this. God sent his Son Jesus Christ to this earth so that he could take my sins upon him self and die so that I might live! Now that is something to celebrate!
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