Posted on 06/02/2014 6:03:21 PM PDT by ebb tide
A study commissioned by a protestant organization has found that Christian youth groups, with an infantile approach to the faith and a focus heavily on being “hip” to this fallen culture, are a predominate factor in driving many young people from Christianity. Mind, this study looked at Christians in general and not Catholics, but the Church has mimicked disastrous protestant programs in recent decades and has reaped the same whirlwind of devastation:
A new study might reveal why a majority of Christian teens abandon their faith upon high school graduation. Some time ago, Christian pollster George Barna documented that 61 percent of today’s 20-somethings who had been churched at one point during their teen years are now spiritually disengaged. They do not attend church, read their Bible or pray.
According to a new five-week, three-question national survey sponsored by the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches (NCFIC), the youth group itself is the problem. Fifty-five percent of American Christians are concerned with modern youth ministry because it’s too shallow and too entertainment-focused, resulting in an inability to train mature believers. But even if church youth groups had the gravitas of Dallas Theological Seminary, 36 percent of today’s believers are convinced youth groups themselves are not even biblical……
……..“Today’s church has created peer dependency,” McManus says. “The inherent result of youth groups is that teenagers in the church are focused on their peers, not their parents or their pastors. It’s a foreign sociology that leads to immaturity, a greater likelihood of sexual activity, drug experimentation and a rejection of the authority of the Word of God.
I was going to go on about the Prussian school model and the isolation from the family it tends to engender in children (indeed, it was designed to do just that), and how it is unsurprising that when Christians – including the original Christians, Catholics – perpetuate this model by dividing up families and having special Masses for this group, special programs for that……it tends to be self-defeating.
The family is the Church in microcosm. As goes the family, so will go the Church, and vice versa. Anything that tends to negatively affect the family – such as educating children away from parental influence, with huge emphasis given to how their peers perceive them – will negatively effect the Church. Lifeteen Masses, CCD, teen youth groups with often highly questionable programs – all these things at least tangentially weaken family unity. They also help further inculcate children in the culture of peer dependence noted above, and when many young adults today are not just unfaithful regarding their religious duties, but are out and out atheist-communist enemies of the Faith, it is not surprising that so many of these young souls fall away.
So many of these programs are adopted almost unthinkingly, in a spirit of imitation that demonstrates both a lack of understanding of the Faith and of human nature. Catholic parishes have “vacation bible schools” because protestant sects have them. They even use the same, protestant-generated teaching materials! That’s just one small example, I could continue on and on through the entire panoply of mimicry. It shows how deranged from the right understanding and practice of the Faith so many in positions of authority in the Church have become.
Anyway, go to Mass as a family. Don’t go to goofy, gimmicky “special” Masses. Home school. Pray together daily. Carefully monitor your kid’s activities, especially on the computer. You can’t guarantee you’re children will remain faithful throughout their lives, but if you do the above, demonstrate virtue, and avoid obvious vice you will immeasurably increase the likelihood that your kids won’t fall away from the Faith.
World Yute Days and LifeTeen Masses come to mind.
Agreed. Faith as socialization.
Christian education is very important. str.org is an organization that has a good student ministry—teaching kids to THINK, not just “relate” to the world.
ping
I checked your link. Thanks, but no thanks. Check out the Baltimore Catechism instead.
http://www.catholicity.com/baltimore-catechism/
It’s way past time to tell our youth that they may be persecuted for their faith. They should be preparing by reading the scriptures and praying faithfully.
Thousands of Christians die every year because of their faith. Our time for testing will come as we’ll.
katy perry and brad pitt were involved in youth groups. we need to build solid foundations of the bible education. young people are bible illiterates. i’d rather be a prophetic minority than a mushy majority.
Heh. I didn’t think it’d be a favorite of Roman Catholics. Nevertheless, my point being: a thinking Christian student is better than one that merely “relates” to the lost.
What you said. Post 3
I believe Ann Bernhardt calls it “super fun rock band church”
Neo-triumphalism.
My guess is the youth groups reflect the church they are from.
The basic points here are correct that the experience of youth in church should not be divorced from the experience of church as family. We have pandered way too much to the culture of youth in the church. That being said there is nothing wrong with youth having youth centered ‘Bible Study’ or extra meetings that speak directly to the problems and positives of being a young Christian in a secular world. Also discussions in regard to vocations or how to express an authentic faith are great but should not exclude the experiences of older Christians, Ministers, Priests etc. I would think the failure rate would decrease depending on how much the more mature members of the congregation are engaged by the youth leader or group. I have no numbers to back this up but personal relationships and the ability to see more mature Christians live out their faith are bound to keep the bond to church stronger!
Youth groups have a tendency to atomize. They buck against the biblical concept of one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. While it is true we all go through seasons and stations in life that shift and change, that is all the more reason to participate together in Divine Service on a regular basis - all ages and vocations - with a Pastor who is called and placed in service to the Church, being devoted to “feeding the sheep.” If youth in a parish are going to do activities as a separate group, let them be closely guided, taught, and supervised by God-fearing adults while doing works of service for the elderly and neighbors.
“One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism” is not merely a concept, but the overarching Reality found in Christ Jesus Who builds His Church.
"According to a new five-week, three-question national survey sponsored by the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches (NCFIC), the youth group itself is the problem. Fifty-five percent of American Christians are concerned with modern youth ministry because it’s too shallow and too entertainment-focused, resulting in an inability to train mature believers. But even if church youth groups had the gravitas of Dallas Theological Seminary, 36 percent of today’s believers are convinced youth groups themselves are not even biblical……
……..“Today’s church has created peer dependency,” McManus says. “The inherent result of youth groups is that teenagers in the church are focused on their peers, not their parents or their pastors. It’s a foreign sociology that leads to immaturity, a greater likelihood of sexual activity, drug experimentation and a rejection of the authority of the Word of God. "
Trying to be hip and cool doesn’t help them grow in Christianity? Well, who could have foreseen this? Like, everyone?
The same reason it is hard to find real solid Christian faith in the pews of a Mega-Church.
Todd Friel on the show, “Wretched” has been onto this problem for a long time. He had videos of teens eating peanut butter out of the armpit of their youth pastor, etc etc. Yes, this is an epic FAIL.
Lumping all protestants together on anything always makes you wrong.
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