Nearly 70% of church-raised high school graduates are walking away from their faith and the church after entering the college campus.
Let me put a face on that statistical reality. I will soon have four boys, Cooper, Dylan, Ryder and Tate. (Tate should make his arrival in mid to late December.) If this statistic holds true, two of my boys, possibly three, will abandon their faith after they leave our home.
It will be tossed aside like old cleats, high school trophies, too-small clothes-outgrown and unnecessary.
Think about it in terms of the children in your family. How will your kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews fair? What about the kids in youth group or in nursery and children's church for that matter? Etch their faces in your minds. Time is moving faster, children maturing earlier and our culture becoming more and more antagonistic to Christ-followers.
I read statistics like this one and think, "not my kids." My kids will be different.
I've talked with parents whose children have walked away. Their kids knew the stories too. Their kids were shuffled to Sunday School, weeknight church programs, youth camps and bible studies. They played the sword drills. They could recite the right answers.
These were the kids the surveyed; the study conducted by a major evangelical denomination. These young adults were inside our church culture, raised in church-saturated homes. They weren't on the periphery. They are my kids, and probably yours too.
So what happens?
I'm still trying to master potty training and "please and thank you," so clearly I don't have the answers. But as I pray through this sobering reality God is whispering that not having all the answers doesn't mean I can ignore the question.
So what if bible stories aren't enough?
