The Missing Link
Over the last 12 years of my life I have ministered to high school and college age people. Over the last 10 years we have made great strides in the local church to meeting the needs and reaching out to teenagers. As well we have made great strides in reaching out to young adults. However, in most our churches young adult means people 23-35. So where are the 18—23 year olds?
I asked this question to a group of young adult pastors this past spring and was surprised by the response: “ok, so people leave the church after they graduate from high school and then come back in their mid to late 20's ….. Is that so bad? I mean each of us had a time in life in which we struggled in our faith and yet God brought us back to him, I think its part of growing up.”
Needless to say I was not happy with this type of response, I totally disagree, God designed us to be in fellowship with other believers in the body of Christ. The first few years after high school are so important! So many life decisions get made during that time. Leaving the church is not part of growing up, it is a tactic of the enemy to steel, kill and destroy lives.
The local church is uniquely gifted to impact in the lives of college age people. This is not something that one individual church can do, rather it is the responsibility of the body of Christ as a whole. By reaching college age people, we have an incredible opportunity to take what is typically the most confusing and stressful years of a persons life and turn them around into some of the most life impacting years. When people graduate from high school they want to make a difference, they believe they can change the world …. because they can. They believe they can make a difference… because they can. Yet most people graduating from high school do not see how serving in the local church can make a huge impact. They don't realize that there is a huge need for them in the body of Christ. Many buy into the lie that they can make it on their own or even that they can serve Christ apart from the body of Christ.
So instead of people graduating from high school and having freedom as never before they are bound by the lies of the enemy, and held captive from serving our Savior.
Because most college age young people no longer live at home, they need older adults to come along side of them and help to navigate the huge choices they face. For most, asking mom and dad for help is no longer an option, however to my surprise I have found that for the most part, they want to be mentored by a older adult. They do not want to be left alone in the world.
I want to share some verses with you. When I read these verses I was reminded of our responsibility as the local church to reach college age people. I was reminded that we cannot be accepting of the way college age people tend to leave us in the church and are pulled away by the world, only to experience the hurt and loss :
Ezekiel 34 NIV 2 ...Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves! Should not shepherds take care of the flock? ... 4 You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost . You have ruled them harshly and brutally. 5 So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals. 6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.
I believe the time is right for us in the local church to welcome college age people into the body of Christ. Yes I know, they have always been welcome, but now is the time to go after, pursue, and to seek and to save that which is often lost.
As I mentioned earlier, leaving the church is not a part of growing up. Leaving the fellowship of the local Church is a scheme of the enemy to scatter the body of Christ and to hurt and kill those Christ died for.
Please pray that we will be able to help local churches reach the scattered.
In His Service,
Ike Leimberer