Where Have Our Children Gone
For years now I have been warning that the Church has made a wrong turn in the direction of the world. First when the Church started cutting out services because people in the Church were getting more and more busy with things outside the Church and attendance was falling in Sunday evening and midweek services. To try to get more people in the Church pastors began to add to the Church what the people were leaving for like changing the dress code, adding game and fun nights, having movie nights, attracting kids with video games, etc. A real shocker for me was when they added the Hollywood movie clips to stir and move the emotions of the congregation. Then they started bringing in celebrities like famous sports players. The sports fans loved it. Then the new age crept in. Every time someone was successful with a ‘plan’ all the other Churches would follow and do the same plan expecting the same results. Now the Church puts all their efforts in making plans to get people saved and into the Church. It is not bad to plan but now most of the efforts are creating a plan and not committing to the Lord in prayer and waiting on Him to give the direction. The results are plans that are full of the world and a Church that is too blind to see it.
Most people don’t even have a clue how different it is today than 50 years ago. What they believe is the older members of the congregation are old fogies and just don’t want to change with society. They believe that you can’t win the lost without becoming like them. They are sure we, old people, are wrong about God. But I have seen both times and can tell you the difference. When we went to church 50 year ago we dressed up in our best clean clothes because we respected God and the house of God as a holy place where the presence of the Holy Spirit was always there. We were taught that dressing up was a sign of respect. Church was Church and you didn’t eat or drink or party in the sanctuary. The Church was a Holy place not just a building and it was a place for prayer. We even had services where we just all went up front, got on our knees and prayed for hours. Those old fogies saw miracles on a regular basis and even whole congregations were slain in the Spirit. People were changed over night and didn’t have to go through weeks or years of training just to get the victory over a bad habit. They grew up in the Church and are now the old fogies.
So what happened to the children today? I just saw a report that nearly 100% of the kids today have left the church before they graduated from high school or college. These plans and crusades that have been going on over the past several years were bringing in hundreds and thousands of kids. I’ve seen the numbers! They show them every time there is an event. So what went wrong? Could it be that the idols we brought into the Church angered God? Could it be that manipulating peoples emotions with Hollywood movie clips to convince them they need God instead of being filled with Spirit so the Spirit, which was given to “draw all men to God”, could do His work. What God does works! What man does is only destined to fail. We failed our children by catering to their lust for fun and pleasure. We failed them by not teaching them respect and honor. We were afraid to stand up against sin and call sin SIN. Maybe we should get down with God till He gives us a plan and the Holy Spirit and then work out that plan God gives us instead of someone else's plan. Maybe we can win them back.
Ken