The Urgent Need for Multigenerational Integration
Almost everyone agrees—as the church—we are losing the next generation. Regardless of whose “statistics” you read, a host of teens are leaving the church by the end of their freshman year in college (as many as 88% according to the Southern Baptists in 2002) and they are not returning later in life as has been the case in former generations.
Never before have there been so many professionals ministering to youth, so many programs and resources sincerely aimed at winning them to Christ and growing them up in their faith. And yet, for all our efforts, we have—for the most part—separated our youth from the generation that had the baton of truth; and the humanistic, post-modern worldview pervasive in academia, entertainment, media, the arts—and increasingly, the church—has rushed in to fill the void.
Josh McDowell, author of Evidence that Demands a Verdict and one of the 20th centuries greatest defenders of the faith, writes this:
“The decision to call this (his most recent book) The Last Christian Generation was not made lightly nor was it done for sensationalism. I sincerely believe unless something is done to change the spiritual state of our young people—you will become the last Christian generation…It is apparent at the beginning of the 21stcentury, we face a generation of young people who no longer hold to what most evangelicals consider to be the true foundations of the Christian faith: belief in the deity of Christ, the reliability of the Scriptures, and the bodily resurrection of Christ…It forced me and many other Christian leaders to re-examine how we are presenting the Christian faith to this generation…and out of that examination, (came) this biblical blueprint to rebuild the true foundation. What we will be presenting here may seem radical to some. And in a sense, it is. It is nothing less than a call to a significant realignment, but it is by no means a new theology. It is firmly based on sound biblical teaching. We are calling for a spiritual revolution… If we’re going to reclaim the next generation, then the home and the church must join forces as never before” (Josh McDowell, The Last Christian Generation)
Recommended resources:
Uniting Church and Home, Eric Wallace
The Last Christian Generation, Josh McDowell
Family Driven Faith, Voddie Baucham