HOW SHALL WE WIN OUR YOUTH TO CHRIST? (Part I)

(Editor’s Note: My schedule requires advance posts this week).

HOW SHALL WE WIN OUR YOUTH TO CHRIST? (Part I)

 

A 1986 survey of the overall Christian community revealed the following:

 

70% of high school grads leave the church, never to return.
65% of Protestant teens never read the Bible.
33% believe religion is out of date and out of touch.
40% of all teens believe in astrology.
58% of Protestant teens believe they should have contraceptives.
25% of high school students contract venereal diseases.
42% of Protestant teens say there are multiple ways to God.
60% question that miracles are even possible.
28% feel the content of the Bible is not accurate.

 

A similar survey taken in 1990 shows:

 

65% of high school Christian students are sexually active.
75% of high school students cheat regularly.
30% of high school students have shoplifted in the past 30 days.
45-50% of teen pregnancies end in abortion.
3.3 million teenagers are alcoholics.
1,000 teenagers try to commit suicide (daily).
10% of high school students have experimented with homosexuality.

 

A Southern Baptist youth survey indicated the following:

 

22% have witnessed violence in their homes.

27% have been involved in a physical attack.

19% have considered suicide.

20% have engaged in sexual intercourse.

60% have experimented with alcohol by age 13.

27% have tried drugs by age 13.

 

The 2011 Barna Study researched youth involvement with Christianity and the church.  It revealed:

 

11% lose faith in Christianity altogether.

40% leave the Church but still call themselves Christian.

20% disconnect from Church and express frustration about “church culture.”

30% stay involved church.

 

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports:

 The rate of suicide for youth between age 10 to age 24 increased 60% between 2007 and 2018.  In 2015 alone, there were 2,061 Suicides among American youth, aged 15 to 19 years.  In 2017, there were 6,241 Suicides among American youth, aged 15 to 24. In that same year, 17% of all high school students reported that they had seriously considered committing suicide…and more than one-fourth of these were black children.  In that same year, over 7% of high school students actually attempted to commit suicide.  And in 2018, suicide was the second leading cause of death among people between ages 10 to 34. 

 Bottom-line: Social media pressures, peer pressures, competition pressures, performance pressures and educational pressures on our youth have been increasing exponentially.  And the world is generally advising them that psychiatry, individual and group therapy and prescription drugs are the only real answers.  The question we must seriously and prayerfully consider: ‘Where is THE CHURCH in the midst of this massive and deadly satanic assault against our children, our seed?’

 If we were to take a close and objective look at today’s youth population to objectively gauge their commitment to Christ and participation in church, we would conclude that current conditions are considerably worse than these surveys suggest.  So many have become victims of clinical depression and have turned away from Christ, embracing humanism, idolatry, witchcraft, and even satanic worship.  My friends, we have a huge amount of Kingdom work to accomplish, so let’s focus and get started!  Stay tuned, more to come tomorrow.

 Sisters and brothers, be continually blessed, and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO MEET OUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!