Is The Church Really Losing Our Young Ones?

[Fireinfolding]

Here's an article to consider:




I can personally attest to this.

Why millennials are leaving the church – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

What are millennial people? I never hear of them either.

I never know what all these names of categories are, whether ists, or isms and now ials

 

[Gnarwhal]

What are millennial people? I never hear of them either. I never know what all these names of categories are, whether ists, or isms and now ials

Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation,[1] is the demographic cohort following Generation X. There are no precise dates for when Generation Y starts and ends. Commentators use beginning birth dates from the early 1980s to the early 2000s.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y

 

[Fireinfolding]

Generation Y - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oh yeah, that explains alot Then I was like, dang, now what the heck is a demographic cohort?

Forget I ask, I just cant keep up with this stuff. Honestly, living in this time is very confusing to me, I will be googling my life away if I get on that train lol

 

[SilverBlade]

A few of my theories are:

- The Church is trying to compete against other forms of both entertainment and knowledge. Why go to church when you can stream a lot of services online? Plus, a lot of younger people today have pathetically short attention spans, and sitting in chairs for 60 minutes listening to someone talk doesn't grab their attention enough.

- People in the past were afraid to question *anything* for fear of being reprimanded by their parents. But now, since we're expanding our knowledge, developing newer technology, more and more young people are starting to question varying aspects of the Christian faith when it comes to scientific discoveries and knowledge. More and more, the answer "The Bible says so" just doesn't cut it.

 

[Achilles6129]

A few of my theories are:

- The Church is trying to compete against other forms of both entertainment and knowledge. Why go to church when you can stream a lot of services online? Plus, a lot of younger people today have pathetically short attention spans, and sitting in chairs for 60 minutes listening to someone talk doesn't grab their attention enough.

- People in the past were afraid to question *anything* for fear of being reprimanded by their parents. But now, since we're expanding our knowledge, developing newer technology, more and more young people are starting to question varying aspects of the Christian faith when it comes to scientific discoveries and knowledge. More and more, the answer "The Bible says so" just doesn't cut it.

Completely agree. Excellent post. The church is competing against other forms of entertainment, so in order to compete they often attempt to turn their services into entertainment as well.

 

[TannarDarr]

Completely agree. Excellent post. The church is competing against other forms of entertainment, so in order to compete they often attempt to turn their services into entertainment as well.

Or they could do it the Biblical way, and stop "talking" and "preaching" and start doing.

Who wouldn't want to join a place that was feeding the poor, for a lame, quick, example.

 

[Achilles6129]

Or they could do it the Biblical way, and stop "talking" and "preaching" and start doing.

Who wouldn't want to join a place that was feeding the poor, for a lame, quick, example.

It would also help if they could heal the sick, as they are supposed to be able to do in James 4:14-15, for example. Or be able to perform miracles, raise the dead, etc. These things seem to have gone out of the church completely for some reason. Ideas?

 

[Fireinfolding]

Yeah, and I need a miracle so someone step forth here

Lets see what chu got

 

[Achilles6129]

Yeah, and I need a miracle so someone step forth here

Lets see what chu got

Well, I am not in your physical proximity, so that may be a problem

Unless we could do the thing that Paul did, where handkerchiefs were taken from him to various sick people and they were healed:

"11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Ac. 19:11-12

 

[SilverBlade]

It would also help if they could heal the sick, as they are supposed to be able to do in James 4:14-15, for example. Or be able to perform miracles, raise the dead, etc. These things seem to have gone out of the church completely for some reason. Ideas?

Maybe people today would be completely freaked out if they suddenly saw a clinically-dead person rise to life or to see massive tumors vanish before their eyes.

Churches didn't do themselves any favor in this regard as some 'churches' would falsify miracle healing or have people drop to the ground and roll around out of control and call it something like 'in the spirit'...or something. It was just put on as a 'show'..and no actual miracle took place.

This is my theory as to why miracle healings aren't really shown in church..it's because of past show-boating and fake healings.

 

[TannarDarr]

It would also help if they could heal the sick, as they are supposed to be able to do in James 4:14-15, for example. Or be able to perform miracles, raise the dead, etc. These things seem to have gone out of the church completely for some reason. Ideas?

That's a whole other thread, but yeah, I have a working hunch on the question that is congruent with scripture and not off on some tangential nightmare....

 

[Fireinfolding]

Well, I am not in your physical proximity, so that may be a problem

Unless we could do the thing that Paul did, where handkerchiefs were taken from him to various sick people and they were healed:

"11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." Ac. 19:11-12

Sure, give it a whirl, Ill send ya my adress

 

[TannarDarr]

Maybe people today would be completely freaked out if they suddenly saw a clinically-dead person rise to life or to see massive tumors vanish before their eyes.

Churches didn't do themselves any favor in this regard as some 'churches' would falsify miracle healing or have people drop to the ground and roll around out of control and call it something like 'in the spirit'...or something. It was just put on as a 'show'..and no actual miracle took place.

This is my theory as to why miracle healings aren't really shown in church..it's because of past show-boating and fake healings.

Thomas was told he was blessed (they.... actually, not he) for believing what they have seen and witnessed, but the blessing would be greater for those who didn't see and still believed.

My question is, after recording the stories as proof, why would he deliberately short your blessing by showing you miracles again?

Also, what was the purpose of miracles? People present TONGUES like it makes them more holy, or closer to God... they claim healing as if it makes them more or better, or something special.....

Miracles were given to prophets to prove they were from God, and their message was holy. They weren't given to people casually.

As Christ said to the pharisees, at least believe in the miracles.... Moses had the magic stick, Gideon the kazoos and crock pots of smiting, etc...Christ had miracles to prove He was the messiah.
The apostles had miracles to prove that they were legit.

But Paul told Tim to remember the things he heard Paul teach (not just the letters) and to pass them on. The passer-onners, were to guarantee the message.

With the message guaranteed now, those gifts would now just be excess.

And, why take away your blessing and giving you miracles? It's totally backwards thinking and in contradiction to all that God did.

my thoughts are free and worth 2x that.

 

[Rev Randy]

In my parish church there's a lot of young kids, a lot of early teens, a lot of 30 something people, and lots of ages from 40 up. The 20 something people seem to go to university and then find a job in a distant place, and some seem to fall out of the church for a while - maybe because marriage and babies - but there is a fairly steady stream of new 30 something people coming in so maybe they are the 20 something people from other places coming to my parish when they're more settled in their life.

So is this an issue that evangelicals are having more than us? Or is it that some individual congregations are having troubles? I notice that a Baptist church here locally has an oddly young congregation. I mean the congregation is over 60% teen. I know the pastor and have been to a few services there. I was expecting a youth geared ministry with a lot of innovative ideas. Nope. Just plain old Baptists with a 60 something pastor. Music isn't contemporary but basic baptist hymnal. But I did notice one thing. The pastor is a no nonsense type that shoots pretty strait and seems to buck heads with the Southern Baptist Conference on his theology as he doesn't preach rapture or tow the line on a few slogans.

 

[Rev Randy]

It would also help if they could heal the sick, as they are supposed to be able to do in James 4:14-15, for example. Or be able to perform miracles, raise the dead, etc. These things seem to have gone out of the church completely for some reason. Ideas?

I think that would draw more old folks than youth.

 

[tadoflamb]

While getting off topic on another thread, it was brought to my attention that we may be losing our young folks in the Church. I'm not seeing it but I've been outside America and Western civilization for a good while. since returning to the States i've heard of this but haven't really seen it.that's not saying that I don't notice a change in America's youth but rather not seeing an exodus. Am I out of touch?

You didn't happen to catch World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro did you?

Do not let your heart be troubled. It's not as bad as you think.

 

[Rev Randy]

You didn't happen to catch World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro did you?

Do not let your heart be troubled. It's not as bad as you think.

Matter of fact I was keeping up with that. My heart isn't too troubled as the statement that we are losing our youth is as old as the Church and even older.
What we tend to forget is that adolescents and young adults tend to stray to try to "find themselves" and end up back home realizing they didn't find themselves in the world. I think the prodigal son discovered this as well.

 

[MoreCoffee]

So is this an issue that evangelicals are having more than us? Or is it that some individual congregations are having troubles? I notice that a Baptist church here locally has an oddly young congregation. I mean the congregation is over 60% teen. I know the pastor and have been to a few services there. I was expecting a youth geared ministry with a lot of innovative ideas. Nope. Just plain old Baptists with a 60 something pastor. Music isn't contemporary but basic baptist hymnal. But I did notice one thing. The pastor is a no nonsense type that shoots pretty strait and seems to buck heads with the Southern Baptist Conference on his theology as he doesn't preach rapture or tow the line on a few slogans.

The loss of 20-something year old may be more of an issue for evangelicals than it is for Catholics. The 30-something year olds who have joined my local parish in the past little while are about 1/3 from evangelical church backgrounds. The other 2/3 would work out at about 1/2 Catholics returning to the faith and about 1/6 non-Christians joining. The proportions are very approximate.

I am confident that up-to-date-music and youth-oriented-preaching doesn't impress 20-something year olds. Would it impress you if you were that age and able to google theological information in a second?

I reckon that your Baptist minister acquaintance has it right if he preaches what he believes and means what he preaches. That kind of honest belief counts for something and if he is also willing to explain why he believes as he does and lives it too then that will just about clinch it as far as attractive-to-young-folk church goes.

When one's congregation is equipped with tablet computers and smart phones that they use for fact-checking it is better to be honest.

 

[Rev Randy]

The loss of 20-something year old may be more of an issue for evangelicals than it is for Catholics. The 30-something year olds who have joined my local parish in the past little while are about 1/3 from evangelical church backgrounds. The other 2/3 would work out at about 1/2 Catholics returning to the faith and about 1/6 non-Christians joining. The proportions are very approximate.

I am confident that up-to-date-music and youth-oriented-preaching doesn't impress 20-something year olds. Would it impress you if you were that age and able to google theological information in a second?

I reckon that your Baptist minister acquaintance has it right if he preaches what he believes and means what he preaches. That kind of honest belief counts for something and if he is also willing to explain why he believes as he does and lives it too then that will just about clinch it as far as attractive-to-young-folk church goes.

When one's congregation is equipped with tablet computers and smart phones that they use for fact-checking it is better to be honest.

At twenty something I was on a PBR in Vietnam. If I wasn't I'd have been back home stoned I suppose and not really caring what kind of music a Church was using.
I think the Gospel does all the attracting necessary.

 

[Optimus Fortis]

It would also help if they could heal the sick, as they are supposed to be able to do in James 4:14-15, for example. Or be able to perform miracles, raise the dead, etc. These things seem to have gone out of the church completely for some reason. Ideas?

Those signs which are supposed to follow those who believe according to Mark 16 would fill the churches with people making holes in the roofs to lower down the paralysed

Instead we have car boot sales and hip music