Inoculated Against the Gospel

According to The Barna Group (Ventura, California) in their report "Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf Following Spiritually Active Teen Years":

• 81% of Teens are engaged in Church to some significant degree during their teen years
• Only 5% of Teens are Bible Believing Christians (Evangelicals)

The church is able to bring large numbers of kids in but they are not effectively ministering to them. Only 5% are actually "Getting it."

Furthermore, while we are engaging 81% of teens only 20% remain engaged during their 20's. We are losing the opportunity to impact the remaining 80%. They have tied Christianity and found it lacking.

Inoculated

When my kids were small, the Doctor gave them inoculations against all kinds of diseases. The way inoculations work is that the body receives a small weakened dose of the disease - not enough for the patient to actually get the disease, but just enough to develop a resistance to it.

This is exactly what youth ministry today is doing. We are giving them a sample of the gospel but they aren't really "getting it." Instead, after a period of time they move on saying "I tried Jesus, now I'll check out something else."

Hypocrisy

"You may be the only Gospel some people ever read" - Source Unknown

Sometime the greatest obstacle to the new kid in the youth group is the existing kids in the group.

When a new kid comes into the youth group, he looks around at the other kids there. He knows he doesn't have any answers and he is checking the other kids out to see if they do. In the end, he finds that most of the kids there (about 95% of the kids) are just like him. Of course that is what he finds since only 5% of the kids there are actually Bible Believing Christians. (note: actual percentages may vary, but you get the point)

Could it be that our youth has become ministry excessively inclusive, and too visitor friendly? Have our youth groups become disproportionately filled with unbelievers to the extent that visitors mistake them for the Christians? A visitor rightly judges that the youth group is full of hypocrites and discounts the gospel message. "Hey, they've been here for years and it hasn't done anything for them. Why should I waste my time?"

A High Standard

(Acts 5:12-13 NASB)  "And at the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. {13} But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem."

The apostles and disciples in Acts were held in high esteem to the extent that some, whose lives were not right, were afraid to associate with them.

Even Jesus had to deal with followers who were not totally committed. His teaching at time was rather hard. In essence, He ran off those who were not really a part of his flock.

(John 6:60, 66 NIV)  "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, "This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?"...  "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."

On one hand, many churches have been culturally exclusive (i.e. have to dress and look a certain way to be accepted) and the trend toward "visitor friendly" churches is a welcome improvement. We should be accepting of different cultures, musical styles, clothing styles, etc. but not at the expense of the gospel. Unfortunately, it seems that some have watered down the gospel in order to attract more visitors. While they may have been successful at bringing in the visitors, we are missing the whole point if we do not challenge and confront them with the truth. There should be a point at which a person becomes so convicted and uncomfortable about his sin that he must either repent or leave the group. 

Twentysomethings

• We are engaging 81% of teens
• 80% of those in their 20's are either no longer engaged in Church or never were to start with
• only 20% remain engaged during their 20's.
• Only 6% of those in their 20's are Bible believing Christians

So even after they leave the youth group, 3/4 of the people in church in their twenties are NOT Bible believing Christians.

80% have possibly been lost forever.

There are over 4 million 19 year olds in America (2000 US Census) and

• 80%= 3.25 Million we are losing each year
• 5%  = 202,000 that we are keeping (Evangelicals)

Conclusion

These figures are terribly alarming to me. They represent a systemic failure on the part of the church.

One or two ministries that are doing well here and there are fine and good but not enough.

We must change the way we do Church in America.

What is a Christian?

If we are to discuss the percentages of Christians in this country, we must define what we mean by a Christian.

If you define a Christian as everyone who identifies himself as a Christian, then 84% of Americans are Christians. Unfortunately, the beliefs and/or practices of many of those people bear little resemblance to historical Christianity. A cursory examination of the media, culture and society will reveal that Christianity is being redefined in America. The issue is not which people will accept the label of "Christian" but which ones are really adherents of the historical faith. We must refine our definition.

George Barna of the Barna Group classifies survey respondents based on their responses to questions about their beliefs and commitments. It is important to note that these classifications DO NOT look at church or denominational affiliation or behavior - just beliefs and stated convictions.

Born Again

Barna has one classification which he refers to as "Born Again." which includes everyone who meets the following criteria.

• Have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today.
• Believe that after they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.

Historically, from the time of the protestant reformation onward, these would be considered the minimum criteria for salvation - i.e. to get to heaven.

According to Barna, in 2007, 42% of Americans were classified as "Born Again."

Evangelicals

What Barna Calls “Evangelicals” meet all of the following criteria:

• Have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today.
• Believe that after they die they will go to Heaven because they have confessed their sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior.
• Believe that the Bible is totally accurate
• Believe that they, personally, have a responsibility to tell other people their religious beliefs.
• Strongly agree that their religious faith is very important in their life.
• Believe that the devil, or Satan, is a living being not just a symbol of evil.
• Believe that being good, or doing works does NOT earn a place in Heaven.
• Believe that when He lived on earth, Jesus Christ was divine and sinless.
• Believe that God is the all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect creator of the universe who rules the world today.

We are not talking about the finer points of theology, (whether you sprinkle or dunk, pre-mill vs post-mill vs amill, Calvinism vs Armenianism, etc.) but rather the basics of historical Christian faith.

Throughout this blog (not just this post, but the entire site) when I refer to "Real Christians" or "Bible-Believing Christians" or "Historical Christians" I am referring to the same group that Barna calls "Evangelicals."

By the way, according to Barna, only 8% of the US population are evangelicals in 2007 down from 9% in 2006.

Able to Teach Others

Some might complain that this definition is too narrow. It is possible to get to heaven without meeting all these criteria. (See Born Again) But for the purposes of this blog we are not talking about just getting to heaven. We are talking about passing on the faith to another generation that can in turn pass it on to another generation and so on.

(2 Tim 2:2 NASB)  "And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also."

The only ones who can pass the baton are those who have embraced it.

Rule of Thumb

Number in Youth ministry should be 10% of Sunday attendance.

According to a church planting/church growth specialist that I know, the quickest measure of a church's youth ministry is to compare the number in the youth ministry to the total number in attendance on Sunday mornings. While exact demographics will vary between communities, in general one can assume that teenagers comprise approximately 10% of the population. Therefore, an average church should also include about 10% teenagers as well.

According to 2000 US Census

Age	% of Population
Age 0-4	6.8%
Age 5-9	7.3%
Age 10-14	7.3%
Age 15-19	7.2%

So Ages 10-19 together comprise 14.5% of the general population. Assuming that this 14.5% is evenly distributed across the 10 year range (1.45%/yr), we could calculate that the 7 year range from 6th grade through 12th grade would equal 10.15%. Depending on where you draw the lines for the upper and lower ranges of "Youth Group"  you can make your own determination about the exact percentages... but it seems to me that 10% is in fact a good figure to use as a "rule of thumb."

When Americans Become Christian

Evangelism statistics: At what age is outreach most effective?

"I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." -- 2 Timothy 1:5

Ages at which Americans say they accepted Christ and became a Christian

The data in the pie graph or chart comes from Nazarene Church Growth Research.

     Another survey -- by the International Bible Society -- indicated that 83% of all Christians make their commitment to Jesus between the ages of 4 and 14. The Barna Research Group surveys demonstrate that American children ages 5 to 13 have a 32% probability of accepting Christ, but teens age 14 to 18 have only a 4% probability of doing so. Adults age 19 and over have just a 6% probability of becoming Christians.
     This data illustrates the importance of influencing children to consider making a decision to follow Christ.
     Because the 4-14 period slice of the pie is so large, many have started referring to the "4-14 Window."

Source: http://home.snu.edu/~HCULBERT/ages.htm

Christian missions promotion and mobilization resources