Parents: The most effective youth ministry

By David N. Bass

A new research survey by The Barna Group has revealed a disturbing trend among college-age young adults — despite participation in religious activities during their teen years, an alarming number of twentysomethings abandon active involvement in the Christian faith after graduating from high school.

With the fall semester in full swing, Barna's research could not have come at a better time. Millions of parents, evangelical Christians included, have committed their young people to secular college campuses this year, yet a majority fail to realize the disastrous consequences so-called higher education can have on their child's spiritual walk.

"Twentysomethings continue to be the most spiritually independent and resistant age group in America," the Barna study concluded. "Most of them pull away from participation and engagement in Christian churches, particularly during the 'college years.' The research shows that, compared to older adults, twentysomethings have significantly lower levels of church attendance, time spent alone studying and reading the Bible, volunteering to help churches, donations to churches, Sunday school and small group involvement, and use of Christian media (including television, radio and magazines)."

Evidently, those few years during adolescence and the college make a huge difference in the spiritual lives of young people. Eighty-one percent of teenagers say that they have attended a church for at least two months at a time, Barna found. Sixty-one percent of young adults have been churched at one point but are now "spiritually disengaged," meaning they do not actively participate in church activities, Bible reading, or prayer. Just 20 percent of twentysomethings "have maintained a level of spiritual activity consistent with their high school experiences."

One of the potential causes for these alarming numbers is a failure of some youth ministries, according to David Kinnaman, who directed the research study. "There are certainly effective youth ministries across the country, but the levels of disengagement among twentysomethings suggest that youth ministry fails too often at discipleship and faith formation," Kinnaman said.

This is a major problem in many contemporary churches — youth ministries are built around attracting numbers rather than teaching substance, about trying to make Christianity palatable enough for the popular culture. Kinnaman alludes to this, stating, "A new standard for viable youth ministry should be — not the number of attenders, the sophistication of the events, or the 'cool' factor of the youth group — but whether teens have the commitment, passion and resources to pursue Christ intentionally and whole-heartedly after they leave the youth ministry nest."

This is the key issue. Attending every church activity and youth outreach will yield no appreciable positive spiritual growth unless a young person has a committed and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the rock upon which faith is built. Unless Christ is at the center, programs and church activities are useless. Without that personal faith commitment, passion for Christianity evidently wanes when young people leave the guidance and support of their parents and are foisted into the pagan atmosphere of the college campus.

But how is this faith commitment cultivated? Kinnaman offers one observation: "We have learned that effective youth ministries do not operate in isolation but have a significant role in training parents to minister to their own children."

Parental involvement is a key area that is often glossed over — often unintentionally — in present-day churches. Youth ministries are simply peer groups with a small number of leaders at the top taxed with the responsibility of offering spiritual guidance. Parents, on the other hand, hold the true responsibility in influencing the spiritual, moral and intellectual growth of their older children.

Simply put, parents, not youth ministries, are ultimately responsible for cultivating an atmosphere where teens aren't immersed in climates strongly tempting them to abandon their Christian walk later in life. When you consider the immoral setting of most secular college campuses, it can't be denied that even many spiritually mature Christians would find themselves under heavy fire. It is the principle obligation of Christian parents to be a guiding influence in their children's lives. Parents are the most effective youth ministry available — they have an unmatched affect on their children's lives by teaching, exhorting, loving and standing beside their young people no matter the cost.

If nothing else, Barna's findings show a widespread break down in the parent-child relationship in Christian communities. And significantly, much of this spiritual collapse occurs when adolescents move away from home, often to attend the bastion of anti-Christian belief known as the modern university system. That link between the college years and abandonment of faith should make any conscientious parent stop and truly consider the implications of college life. Avenues do exist to pursue higher education without selling one's soul.

To those parents still committed to sending their children to secular college campuses, remember the words of C.S. Lewis: "Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil."

© David N. Bass