Did you know that over two million children are leaving the church each year when they reach adulthood? Some of the “wolves” that are devouring our “lambs” and a solution.
Independent research groups indicate that seventy-five to ninety percent of our young people walk away from church upon graduating from high school. Every minute we lose four youth, every hour we lose over two-hundred, every day we lose over five-thousand, and every year we lose over two-million. Our children are walking out the doors of the church never to return.
Think about the enormity of losing two million children to the world every year. Something is definitely wrong.
Parents are truly blindsided here. Of the Americans who call themselves born again Christians, only about nine percent have a biblical worldview. The majority lose their virginity by their second year of college. With more than fifty percent of Christian marriages ending in divorce, the church’s divorce rate is slightly worse than that of secular society.
Consider the “wolves” that attack families today: education that undermines Christian beliefs, bullies, peer pressure, discrimination against Christians, drugs, the homosexual agenda, sexually transmitted diseases, child abductions, sexual predators, school violence, pornography, gangs, and the occult, to name a few. This growing list seems to never end. What is a parent to do with these real threats? Is God not protecting us?
Scripture provides a warning for parents: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).
The Lord Jesus gave us a warning but also added a promise in John 10:10: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
Why is the thief stealing, killing, and destroying our families? Since Jesus promises to give us abundant life, why are these wolves consuming our families? Is there a way out of this disaster for families? The answer is yes. There is a way out.
Truthfully, Jesus Himself is the answer to each one of these “wolves.” In a very real way, you need something other than a “pray and cross your fingers” approach most parents adopt. The solution is amazingly simple and practical; parents need to make disciples of their children in the same manner that Jesus made disciples.
I would like to invite you to get my free e-book entitled, “Disciple Like Jesus, an Introduction For Parents and Grandparents.” You will find this free e-book at http://www.disciplelikejesus.com/free-ebooks.html
Alan Melton is the founder of Disciple Like Jesus ministry, and co-author of “Disciple Like Jesus For Parents.” His articles have been featured in numerous publications, and he speaks at churches, associations and conferences. Married to Donna since 1977, he has two children, Jennifer and Ryan.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a question for you and your readers. I live in Germany and this is what I obeserve here and I wonder if it is not true for Canada and the US.
I propose that children are leaving the churches because they are not being taught the gospel — not only not at home as you indicate in your post, but also in the churches they attend.
If these children leave the church, what loss is that? They have not rejected Christ or the gospel if they have never heard the Word preached.
Here in Germany the evangelical churches (for example the Bible believing Baptist churches) have started to water down the faith so much that really there is hardly any truth in the Message presented to the congregation/children’s program.
Are the churches in North America preaching the Gospel or offering a pasttime experience for Sunday mornings?
*No, this in no way takes from your good points above: Parents need to disciple their children… and a good church is one which will support parents in these efforts and yes, there are still a few churches out there doing this, but they are few and most parents are too busy being entertained by cute sketches and engaging praise elements as well as humorous sermons that they do not realize/notice/care if they are being supported in the discipleship of their children. At least in Germany this is the case…
Thanks for your thoughts. The churches that I have been involved with are still preaching the gospel. The problem that we see is that 1 to 5 hours a week of spiritual teaching is not enough to overcome 80 to 100 hours of the secular teaching/influence/culture.
How about other readers? What is your experience?
Blessings, Alan
It pleases me to read that your church still preaches the gospel. I also hope you have a solid, biblical youth programme…
One of the blogs I have been following for quite some time is Defending/Contending. Recently they posted a shocking post about what is happening in some youth minitries within the States. Although not to such extremes noted in this article, I have observed similar scary stuff here in Germany.
Peanut Butter Salvation and Other Stupid Church Tricks — have you or any of your readership been exposed to this type of “ministry”?