I recently read a post about what the youth would like to hear in the churches they attend. For the most part I agree and will touch on that part shortly.
The blog and post was written by young people to help churches get a grip on reality and not just keep quoting the Bible according to the youth parishioners.
Of course; this is one persons writings (with 3 others involved) but it does make a lot of good points with (in my opinion) some confusion.
The part that confuses me:
The conversation leads into the youth of today as being the first generation worse off than their parents and drowning in debt. Perhaps a little background on the worse off and debt issues.
We (baby-boomers) also struggled to make ends meet and our parents were even worse off then us. They did figure out how to make ends meet as we also did.
I understand the frustrations of the youth and that many parents enabled them. I personally know many who did, which did not allow them to understand the problems and finances in today’s world.
I’m not sure if the original blog writer experienced the parental enabling process. It might be time to move on to the real reasons for life’s issues, and what subjects will actually be helpful in sermons.
Now I am not sure what the drowning in debt is other then college tuition. But if you look back you will also see my generation had similar problems and many still do even in their golden years.
Lets face it, everyone has debt problems of one type or another. You just need to be smart about spending; which conveniently was made easier for the younger generation. This was through social media and TV advertising with sales and super discounts and even money back for your purchases.
These advertising gimmicks actually have you spending more then normal because you want to make as much back as possible. The bigger refund check looks great right? But how much did you unnecessarily spend to get it? Now does that really make any sense?
Don’t want to drown in debt…stop spending unless its for the essentials. This is advice from someone who know how it works. You can take it or leave it.
The part that I can agree with:
Is the part about being able to be ourselves in the post. I am not sure how that would or could work during the church services or sermons but I decided to really try to figure it out.
The one thing I can say is it seems as though (according to the post) young people want to be able to share their feelings, and understand how it fits into the scriptures. This does make a lot of sense and I have heard it from others as well.
I think the clergy could include scriptures that are also directed towards their young parishioners. The hope is that it might give the older ones a chance to see how they could personally motivate or mentor them through scriptures. But also help apply them to daily life.
And we all need scriptures to help us in this unsettled world.
There are some churches that have Bible Study groups that might help. Their should also be some group meetings to address the hopes and concerns for everyone young and old.
Now those are the meetings I would really like to attend to hear the real voices of the youth and older generations.
Let the youth be directly involved in leadership.
My initial suggestion to the church leaders are to let some of the younger people who want to be helpful serve with you to learn how to help. And mentor the youth who will one day take over the church once you are unable.
Don’t wait. Get them ready now.
If you have any comments or suggestions I could pass on to the clergy or youth groups, please let me know in the comments below. Thanks for visiting and commenting.
John
Our Divided World