I want to start off this blog, article, letter or whatever you want to call it by saying that I am no expert in the field of evangelism, ministry or young people, but I know the burden that has been placed in my heart, the calling that God has placed in my life, and I know the things that I have been through in my life as a young man and with my children so I feel I have no choice but to pen this. This article has been on my mind for some time .If you read Matthew 18:1-7, before or after reading this, I hope you will come to the same conclusions I have and realize that we must be about the fathers Business (Luke 2:49), and we Must reach out to the youth of today so that they may come to know the glory of the Lord instead of the agony of sin.
In today’s world when you turn on the news every day at say 5 or 6 pm, you will hear a story it seems that deals with a crime committed by, for or against a young person in the community or the nation. No matter where you live in this great nation we call the United States of America, you are not exempt from hearing of things such as Columbine Co, or one of the 107, that’s right 107 school shooting’s since August 1, of 1966. That means that in less than 45 years we have had an average of 2.4 school shootings per year. The total number of victims in those 107 shootings is over 400. This includes deaths and injuries. Now I don’t know about you but that is an unacceptable amount of hurt, and death and grief, because just think if the actual victim count is over 400, how many lives does that represent that have been affected by those tragedies. Even though there were 12 of those shootings in which no one was injured or killed, there were still lives affected, to what point we have no idea but I can only imagine that being in or around something like that would affect someone for the rest of their lives, just as Vietnam, Desert Storm, Enduring Freedom or Afghanistan has affected many of our soldiers and their families, this I know from firsthand experience from what war has done to my family.
Now let’s step away from the School Shootings and look outside the school, in our own communities and look at some other FACTS straight from the government and the CDC. A) Among 10-24 year olds, HOMICIDE (MURDER) is the leading cause of Death for African Americans; The 2nd leading cause of death for Hispanics; and the 3rd leading cause of death for Asia/Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaska Natives.
B) In a 2009 nationally representative sample of youth in grades 9-12:
1) 31.5% reported being in a physical fight in the 12 months PRECEEDING the survey; 39.3% of the males and 22.9% of the females.
2) 17.5% reported carrying a weapon( gun, knife, or club) on one or more days in the 30 DAYS PRECEEDING the survey
3) 5.9% carried a GUN on one or more days in the 30 DAYS BEFORE the survey
4) Males were more likely than females to carry a weapon (21.7% –VS- 7.1%) on one or more days in the 30 DAYS Before the survey.
5) And of the males 9.8% of them were more likely for that weapon to be a gun in those 30 days where the females were only 1.7% more likely.
C) In 2007, 5,764 young people ages 10-24 were MURDERED—AN AVERAGE OF 16 EACH DAY!!
D) Of those 86% were male and 14% female
E) And among all of those 84% were killed with a firearm.
F) In 2008 656,000 young people ages 10-24 were treated in ER’s for injuries sustained from violence.
G) In 2008, Juveniles accounted for 16% of all violent crime arrests and 26% of all property crime arrests
H) In 2008, 1280 juveniles were arrested for Murder, 3,340 for FORCIBLE RAPE, and 56,000 for aggravated assault.
And one last one for you in 2009 a national survey on school bullying in grades 9-12 found that 19.9 % of those surveyed reported being bullied on school property in the 12 months before the survey, and the prevalence was higher in females (21.2%) than males (18.7%)What does all this mean? It means that the youth of this country are being lost to the violence and ways of the streets. Many of these kids are probably good kids that have either fallen into bad environmental surroundings or have no guidance from a parent, teacher or THE LOCAL CHURCH.
I have to tell you, some of these statistics shocked me. I had no idea that 656,000 young people were treated for violence related injuries. I would have never thought it would be that high. Then I wanted to know how many single mom household are there out there and here is a statistic I found via Google: As of 1998, there were 12.8 million single mothers heading households. In 1998, more than half of all first births were to single women, about 53 percent. The typical American household has changed drastically in the last generation. In the year 1960, 45% of all households were composed of married couples with children. As of the 2000 Census, that figure is only 23% of households. The 2000 Census also reveals that during the 1990s in the United States, there was a 25% increase in the number of households headed by single mothers. In all, there was a 71% increase in the number of households headed by unmarried partners during the last decade. About 83.2 % of all custodial parents are mothers, 45% of which are divorced or separated, By the same token , not to be discriminatory, about 16.8% of custodial parents are fathers and out of those 57.8% are divorced or separated.
The family environment has changed so much in the last 45 years and unfortunately what all these statistics tell us is that our young people are the ones suffering. So what do we, as the body of Christ, do about it. That’s right Church, we have a duty to reach out to the youth in our communities if we claim to be a born again Christian filled with the spirit of the living God but unfortunately as you can tell we have done nothing about it for the most part. We sat by and watched as the American Government in 1962 took prayer and Bible reading out of public schools, which is probably one the biggest events in the creating of a nation of youth that have no regard for life because of our failure to teach them. So how do we change it?
Well first off we have to change our methods. The days of Mom and Dad bringing the child to Sunday school and Worship service on Sunday mornings, and Wednesday nights is gone. We have to reach out to them in their surroundings. Whether this means going to the local skating park, the local basketball court, the mall, the movie theatre, wherever it is that the kids go to hang out or going to their homes to introduce ourselves, then we must go. Jesus said in Mark 16:15 “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” We can no longer expect them to come to us; we should have never expected them to come to us. We need to be Pre-emptive in getting the message out, not Reactive to situations around us,.
We also need to look at how we are ministering to these young people. Think back to your day as a young person and the things you liked versus the things your mom and dad liked. They were different weren’t they? I remember back when I was a young man in my teens, the music I liked my dad and mom hated it. They called it trash, scum evil and many other things my dad called it that I can’t mention here, but ya know what it moved me. I knew the words to just about every song out there I listened to and I could tell you about the band and what they liked. For some of you that are older than me, you probably remember your mom and dad liking say the big band music and then Elvis coming out and you fell in love with that and then according to your parents that was the music of the devil. Well guess what, we may not agree with the sound of today’s worldly music, but we need to incorporate that style into our worship services. There are many many many GODLY artists out there creating biblically sound music that is really good and it ministers to our young people in a way that move them. But the older generation’ of the church says it’s the devils music and won’t have that in there service. Well if you don’t want it to be in “Your Service” then fine lets have “Youth Services” separate from the older generation. But that will do nothing in my opinion than create division in the church if the youth services are held weekly and there is never any interaction with the older generation of the church, which is totally unproductive since the Bible states in Titus 2 that the older men are to be examples for the younger men and the older women are to teach the younger women. We must have interaction between the generations. This means that the older generation must SUPPORT the younger generation and not be afraid to try new things that reach out to the younger people. The younger people in turn MUST BE TAUGHT to Support the older Generation and to listen to them and learn from them.
We have to have a balance in our churches today but we must be willing to move forward and accept change as it comes. Many of us get so COMFORTABLE in our worship that we forget why there are Churches. The Sunday morning Services are for the uplifting and renewal of the saints, yes but it is not “Our” service. IT IS JESUS’ Service and we must let him lead. If this means we introduce a drum set into the musical instruments of our Sunday morning worship, then so be it. If it means we use sound tracks on Sunday morning sometimes for someone to sing a special song during service rather than having a piano play it, so be it. If it means we let the youth hold service once in a while and let them take total control of that service, so be it. By the same token if it means that we have a service dedicated to the founding fathers of our local church, steeped in tradition so be it. We have to find a way to come to a happy medium in our churches if we are to continue to exist. Many of today’s churches are DYING because they refuse to EMBRACE CHANGE. If we refuse to EMBRACE CHANGE we REFUSE to EMBRACE CHRIST. How can that be you ask, well let me ask you this, Wasn’t Christ all about Change? Acts 6:14 “this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.” He came to CHANGE the TRADITIONS. How do you think that went over? Well from what I read in the Bible, people didn’t really EMBRACE it and they crucified our Lord, but guess what, the Change he brought is still working today. By his Death, resurrection and ascension into Heaven, he changed that fact that if we confess him as Lord of our lives and repent of our sins, that we no longer have to worry about eternity, for our home is assured in Heaven. That message folks will NEVER CHANGE; the METHOD however, is always changing, as is our culture. We must be willing to change our methods to keep up with the times or the local church will cease to exist. We will never change the statistics you read above if we as the body of Christ do not change our ways of reaching the young people of today. We cannot sit idly by and wait for someone else to reach them, because the false religions and cults of this world are advancing by changing their tactics to meet the “Need” per say of today’s youth. How much more can Jesus meet that need and give them true life, eternal life in Heaven? We will never know the answer to that if we sit idly by and die in our “Traditions”. Are you willing to reach out to today’s youth? Are you willing to embrace Change? Are you willing to see the local church that you helped build all those years ago for Jesus die out because you are unwilling to meet the needs of the youth in your community? If you are unwilling to embrace the change needed to accomplish the commandments of Christ, then brother and sister’s when you go to Church on Sunday, look around at those who are around you and realize that this is as full as your church will ever be, and realize that your congregation is an endangered species and will soon disappear from this Earth, never to be heard from again.
Matthew 18:1-7 at that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!”
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