The article: 3 Common Traits of Youth Who Don’t Leave the Church
http://www.faithit.com/3-common-traits-of-youth-who-dont-leave-the-church/
This statement was interesting:
...Each had a story to tell about a “good Christian” child, raised in their home and in our church, who had walked away from the faith during the college years.In this statement the author equates a college student no longer attending church with walking away from his or her faith. I get it. I'll side step the simplistic measure of a person's faith as a person going to church to get to the more juicy fun.
But this one was the one that really caught my attention:
The daunting statistics about church-going youth keep rolling in. Panic ensues. What are we doing wrong in our churches? In our youth ministries?But, what if the reason these students are "leaving the church" is not the result of failure, but the result of success? Okay, before I open myself up for too much "what about kid X" or "what about kid Y", I'm not in any way saying every kid that steps out of church during their young adult years does so from a desire on their part to walk closer with their Father.
I'm certain there were parents wringing their hands over their children stepping away from traditional Judaism to follow this new Way that this radical teacher had introduced and which challenged their sound and long-standing system of faith given them by the one true god.
What if the result of some of the teaching in some places is actually helping students discover the relationship for which they were sought out in their growing-up years? And what if the result of firmly grounded students is actually a lifting of the veil which shrouds the vision of so many to see the self-serving monolith that many churches have become. What if the students actually see the disconnect between the stories they read and were taught in their early years and the "practice of their faith" that is before them as adults?
What if the real church is emerging from centuries of stifling tradition and individual kingdom building? What if these students have come face to face with a Way that was obscured centuries ago and are now a part of the next unique and genuine work of Father to redeem His people to himself?
