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Wednesday August 8, 2007 ~ 2 Comments
USA TODAY's Tuesday story on young adult dropouts drew interest in the print version (inside the Life section) and online in the News section. You can see the story here. At 11 a.m. on Wednesday, a full day after the story posted, it was #2 on most emailed and #7 on most commented on the news tracking at USA TODAY.com. On the home page tracking for the whole paper, it was #5 on most emailed and #9 on most commented. We all know there is something to be concerned about here... but hopefully we will do more than just bemoan the current reality. I am always amazed by the propensity of Christians to revel in bad news and then do nothing to change the situation. Change is desperately needed. I was impressed today that we needed to pray for our young adults-- but also our churches so that they can be the kind of churches that Mark Kelly describes here. Speaking of needed change... tomorrow's guest commentary on the subject will be, "Why Young Adults Drop Out of Church and What Can Be Done to Stem the Tide," by Scott Stevens. 2 CommentsLeave a comment |
  
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Thanks for the research. I had the opportunity to address the deacons at the church where I serve as student pastor last night and I gave them all a copy of your report. When they asked me what we as a student ministry need from them, I told them three things:
1) Prayer. God is the only answer to stemming the tide of these trends.
2) The equipping and training of Godly parents and adults in the church. Students need to see authentic, lived faith from their parents and church leaders.
3) Time. They (especially adult males) need to take seriously the responsibility of the church to invest in young people for the sake of the gospel.
I think they responded well to the challenge. Your research provided physical stats to go with it. Thank you very much and keep up the good work.
Thanks for both links! I was struck by the truth of your comment: "I am always amazed by the propensity of Christians to revel in bad news and then do nothing to change the situation." I too hope we will strive to make a difference.
Caleb, you give a good example of how to apply the research.