Reaching the Next Generation

I'm re-posting this from last October, as I think it very relevant given our current class topic on discipling teens.

Kevin DeYoung is fast becoming one of my favorite bloggers to read regularly. I urge everyone to read his latest series of blog posts on "Reaching the Next Generation" (i.e. our youth). Here's a sampling from the post entitled Reaching the Next Generation: Hold Them With Holiness :

"One of our problems is that we have no done a good job of modeling Christian faith in the home and connecting our youth with other mature Christian adults in the church. One youth leader has commented that how often our young people “attended youth events (including Sunday school and discipleship groups) was not a good predictor of which teens would and which would not grow toward Christian adulthood.” Instead, “almost without exception, those young people who are growing in their faith as adults were teenagers who fit into one of two categories: either (1) they came from families where Christian growth was modeled in at least one of their parents, or (2) they had developed such significant connections with adults within the church that it had become an extended family for them.” Likewise, sociologist Christian Smith argues that though most teenagers and parents don’t realize it, “a lot of research in the sociology of religion suggests that the most important social influence in shaping young people’s religious lives is the religious life modeled and taught to them by their parents.”

The take home from all this is pretty straight forward. The one indispensable requirement for producing godly, mature Christians is godly, mature Christians. Granted, good parents still have wayward children and faithful mentors don’t always get through to their pupils. But in the church as a whole, the promise of 2 Peter 1 is as true as ever. If we are holy, we will be fruitful. Personal connections with growing Christians is what the next generation needs more than ever."

I am thankful for posts like this that remind me of the call God has for my life as a father, and that call me to repent for living forgetful of this truth so often.