Why are youth/young adults not treated seriously?

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Ecclesiastik

Guest
#1
#1
I was saved when I was about 15. Since that time (with the exception of a falling away in college and the re-building of my foundation time after that) I have been on fire for the Lord.

The interesting thing is that I would appear in youth groups that were run, in a manner of speaking, like: "Let's get this Bible study out of the way then we can get to having some fun." Even when I fell in college and was trying to get back up, I got offered coffee and pancake breakfasts more so than Jesus Christ.

So what's the issue? Why does everyone seem to think youth is a time to not be serious about God? Even this Young Adults Forum involves "silly people" in its description....and just a casual glance of the forum topics I see blatant sin, immaturity, and a lack of accountability.

Paul never created an atmosphere for Timothy to be lackadaisical about his faith. Why do we?
 
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Ugly

Guest
#2
#2
Nope. Not how i was treated. I was very active in my youth groups. By 17 i was in leadership in 2 youth groups. I was in the youth praise band. By 15 i was going to crack towns with a group Friday evenings to witness. I was in a Christian band that for a short time held bible studies. I was in and out of youth aimed bible studies over the years that were quite deep and good and often had no after activities other than whatever people chose to do after. I was often treated quite well because of my faith at my age. So it sounds more like the people around you, than it being a common thing. Though it may have changed. That was 20+ years ago.
 
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Ecclesiastik

Guest
#3
#3
Ugly said:
Nope. Not how i was treated. I was very active in my youth groups. By 17 i was in leadership in 2 youth groups. I was in the youth praise band. By 15 i was going to crack towns with a group Friday evenings to witness. I was in a Christian band that for a short time held bible studies. I was in and out of youth aimed bible studies over the years that were quite deep and good and often had no after activities other than whatever people chose to do after. I was often treated quite well because of my faith at my age. So it sounds more like the people around you, than it being a common thing. Though it may have changed. That was 20+ years ago.
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My home church treated me quite well when it came to my faith. I started preaching there and learned to love hymns, regular study of the Bible, and even the King James Version there (although I now use the NASB and listen to contemporary music on occasion). If anything, going to such a small, traditional church (which had no one under the age of 45 there besides myself) helped me to realize that church isn't about what I want, it is about what God does.

It was actually when I started visiting other churches and hit the road that I started to notice a pattern of entertainment and allowing the culture of death to infiltrate the church in order to lure more younger members in and keep them in the pews. I began to see people in church who talked more about what is on the radio than Christ. So..unfortunately, Ugly, I fear both of our experiences are isolated incidents when looking at the whole of the youth programs of America.
 
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Nuns_n_roses

Guest
#4
#4
Honestly, I've always had God in my heart and tried hard to be a good servant. However this is a hard age for people. Theyre figuring out who they are and what they stand for. Theyre figuring out their path in life. While it's not an excuse, we must understand that we are all individuals and have a unique relationship with God. I have hope for these young adults to discover where their loyalties lie, whether it's now or later on! And we can show them by example. :)
 
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Ecclesiastik

Guest
#5
#5
Nuns_n_roses said:
Honestly, I've always had God in my heart and tried hard to be a good servant. However this is a hard age for people. Theyre figuring out who they are and what they stand for. Theyre figuring out their path in life. While it's not an excuse, we must understand that we are all individuals and have a unique relationship with God. I have hope for these young adults to discover where their loyalties lie, whether it's now or later on! And we can show them by example. :)
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I understand and agree. However, any age is a difficult age to give your life to Christ. It's an act that is impossible without the intervention of the Lord. I've even seen older ladies and gentlemen who sing hymns, go to church every Sunday, and are retired and go home and do little to nothing. Yet, they still have not been born again. I bet there are many Christians out there who would think "Why don't they simply surrender all? They aren't doing anything better with their lives." But I think similar thoughts when I look at the many youth who wittle away their time in trivial and worldly pursuits and then appear back in the pews on Sunday.

I agree that we should lead by example. It just is disheartening to see people treat God so irreverently and to be split in between God and the world- and even worse is the fact that many churches encourage this behavior (either directly through their efforts or indirectly through the sin of omission). As my boy Tim Conway says: "You accomplish nothing by facing both ways. You are both a bad Christian and a bad worldling." Might as well drop one and go after the other with all your heart cause you ain't impressing nobody by being stuck in the middle.


I realize everyone is at different places in life and even I came to a point in my youth (before receiving the Holy Spirit) that I realized I needed to choose if I was going to serve God or men and that I could no longer pretend to do both--Which means there was a point when I was trying to do both.

Nuns, may I ask how are you leading by example? How goes your walk with Christ?
 
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Nuns_n_roses

Guest
#6
#6
I can agree with that! Its going quite well! :)
 
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