Come Home! A Calling for Prodigals to Return.

I have a burden: how can we sow seed in the hearts and minds of our youth that will take root and grow into a tree of life?

Jesus has taught us through the Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed: Matthew 13:1-23 that only 1 in 4 will ever truly embrace the Gospel. 

So how do we sow the seed to ensure a faithful harvest amongst our children?  Research is suggesting that tomorrow's generation is leaving the faith in great numbers...

Study: Why Young Christians Leave the Church

By Jeff Schapiro | Christian Post Reporter

Nearly three out of every five young Christians disconnect from their churches after the age of 15, but why? A new research study released by the Barna Group points to six different reasons as to why young people aren't staying in their pews.

The results of this study come from the interviews of teenagers, young adults, youth pastors, senior pastors and parents that were taken over the course of five years.

First, the study says, churches appear to be overprotective. Nearly one-fourth of the 18- to 29-year-olds interviewed said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church” most of the time. Twenty-two percent also said the church ignores real-world problems and 18 percent said that their church was too concerned about the negative impact of movies, music and video games.

Many young adults also feel that their experience of Christianity was shallow. One-third of survey participants felt that “church is boring.” Twenty percent of those who attended as a teenager said that God appeared to be missing from their experience of church.

The study also found many young adults do not like the way churches appear to be against science. Over one-third of young adults said that “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” and one-fourth of them said that “Christianity is anti-science.”

Some also feel that churches are too simple or too judgmental when it comes to issues of sexuality. Seventeen percent of young Christians say they've “made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them.” Two out of five young adult Catholics said that the church's teachings on birth control and sex are “out of date.”

The fifth reason the study gives for such an exodus from churches is many young adults struggle with the exclusivity of Christianity. Twenty-nine percent of young Christians said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and feel they have to choose between their friends and their faith.

The last reason the study gives for young people leaving the church is they feel it is “unfriendly to those who doubt.” Over one-third of young adults said they feel like they can't ask life's most pressing questions in church and 23 percent said they had “significant intellectual doubts” about their faith.

David Kinnaman, Barna Group president and author of the book on these findings, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Church (click link), said part of the problem may be that many churches are geared toward “traditional” young adults.

“But most young adults no longer follow the typical path of leaving home, getting and education, finding a job, getting married and having kids – all before the age of 30,” he said. “These life events are being delayed, reordered, and sometimes pushed completely off the radar among today's young adults.”

The Barna Update that highlights this study also says that today's young adults are heavily influenced by the major social, spiritual and technological changes that have occurred in the last quarter century.

Dan Smith, pastor of Momentum Christian Church in Cleveland, Ohio, told The Christian Post in an email that the six points “resonate” with him.

“I feel like part of God's calling on my life is to reach those 85 percent (made-up stat) who want to connect with God ... but don't feel like the typical church is helping with that,” he said.
“Most of our church is made up of 20s, 30s, and 40s – younger people – because our leaders have the same mindset as some of the younger people do – we won't tolerate inauthenicity 'on stage,' trite answers, anti-scientific discussion, etc. As Scripture says, we believe that if Jesus is lifted up, young people should also be drawn to him ... so we try to lift him up in a way they can participate.”

Instead of overreacting to these statistics (by gearing churches specifically toward young people) or remaining indifferent to them, Kinnaman suggests that churches should cultivate “intergenerational relationships” within their congregations.

“In many churches, this means changing the metaphor from simply passing the baton to the next generation to a more functional, biblical picture of a body – that is, the entire community of faith, across the entire lifespan, working together to fulfill God's purposes."

A big part of the problem is that the institution of church is like school or the home.  It is rules, regulations, do's and don'ts... it appears intollerant and unloving.  So what to do?!

First, if we really draw down and examine the laws and rules of our faith, we can see that they come from a loving Father that is concerned with our well being. The regulations contained in Leviticus 11 showed God's concern over our physical health (through His initmate knowledge of the harm to our bodies), the consumption of certain types animals would bring.  In today's day and age, it is no surprise that bacon and other pork products consumed in excess will wreak havoc on our bodies.  At the same time, shellfish live on the sea floor where much bacteria and toxins are present. In fact, many shellfish, such as clams and oysters, are filter feeders and have a tendency to accumulate these chemical substances in their bodies.

Leviticus 15 goes on to limit our exposure to bodily [fluid] discharges which we have come to learn are a portal to illness and disease, including AIDS.

Finally, Leviticus 18 limits our sexual practices and therefore our exposure to genetic disorders, unwanted pregnancies and disease from perversive acts.

But why have the law in the first place??


Galatians 3:24-26
 ²⁴ Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. ²⁵ And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian

Truly God's laws and regulations are much like bumpers in a game of bowling

They keep us out of the gutters and keep us on target.

But man has made a mess of things and has majored in the minors.  We get all hung up and focused on religion to get right with God apart from His plan of redemption.

Jesus, Himself, explained His purpose as recorded in the Gospel of John (chapter 3):

¹⁶ “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.  ¹⁸ “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. ¹⁹ And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. ²⁰ All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. ²¹ But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.^[g]”


No wonder our kids are confused!  They keep hearing its all about the rules and getting right with God.  They think to themselves, how can I ever get right with God? Instead all they need to do is to "come to the light..."

In fact, it doesn't say that He came to institute more rules, but through Him the law should be fulfilled:

Matthew 5:17

    ¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

But many will say...we can't tell this to our kids.  They need to know right from wrong.  If not they will think since we are no longer under the law can we now go on sinning!!  Paul answers that question...

Romans 6:1-4

 ¹ Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? ² Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? ³ Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? ⁴ For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.

So instead of being weighed down by the law and all it's rules, we are, instead FREE!!

2 Corinthians 3:6-18

⁶ He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant. This is a covenant not of written laws, but of the Spirit. The old written covenant ends in death; but under the new covenant, the Spirit gives life.

 ⁷ The old way,^[a] with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. ⁸ Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? ⁹ If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! ¹⁰ In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way. ¹¹ So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever!  ¹² Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold. ¹³ We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away. ¹⁴ But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ. ¹⁵ Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand.

 ¹⁶ But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸ So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

Let's be honest.  No twelve step programs, power of positive thinking or the will of man will EVER guarantee us that we will not return to the things that have enslaved us like alcohol, drugs, over indulging, smoking and pornography.  Sure we can get on the wagon for a while but eventually we all fall off.  As Peter reminds those of us who know the freedom we have in Christ but try to go back again to the belief we can get right - on our own - apart from Him...

2 Peter 2:20-22

The Message (MSG)

 ^20-22If they've escaped from the slum of sin by experiencing our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ, and then slid back into that same old life again, they're worse than if they had never left. Better not to have started out on the straight road to God than to start out and then turn back, repudiating the experience and the holy command. They prove the point of the proverbs, "A dog goes back to its own vomit" and "A scrubbed-up pig heads for the mud."

We get caught up in the revolving door of life..

Paul puts it this way...

Romans 7:14-25

 ¹⁴ So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. ¹⁵ I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. ¹⁶ But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. ¹⁷ So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

 ¹⁸ And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. ¹⁹ I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. ²⁰ But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
 ²¹ I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. ²² I love God’s law with all my heart. ²³ But there is another power^[b] within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ²⁴ Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? ²⁵ Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

So, if we attempt to follow the law, on our own, and in our flesh... WE WILL FAIL!!  And the world will see right through us...

But if we truly trust Jesus and jump into his arms...HE does the work...making us right in Him.  For He says...

 Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

John 8:36

 Does that mean if we are "In Christ" we won't be condemned?  Well, that is what Paul said:

Romans 8:1

 ¹ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

Jesus, Himself, said with His dying breath...it is finished... all the striving all the struggling...

John 19:29-30

²⁹ A jar of sour wine was sitting there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put it on a hyssop branch, and held it up to his lips. ³⁰ When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and released his spirit.

And isn't that freeing?  And you know what happens when we finally let go and let God complete the good work He started in us?  Things start to fall into place...Since we are no longer striving, the lusts of the flesh fade away and we become more and more like Him.

And it is with this message of freedom that I think we can begin to win back our kids and young adults!

Finally, once we free our kids from the class room 

What next??

Let's listen to what Mark Hall from Casting Crowns suggests:

We can't give up!  These kids need our love and our prayers!  They need us to be real.  They need the Prodigal Father who keeps watching for them to come home!