Double Down

@ryanburge - click to go to tweet

Last week one of the authors I follow on Twitter retweeted something from Ryan Burge (@ryanburge). Ryan is a professor at Eastern Illinois University. He posts a lot about religion in the United States. His post bothered me as much as it invigorated me.

He posted a graph that shows the Age Distribution of Protestant Traditions, and said, “I don't think people fully grasp how much of Protestant Christianity is going to die off in the next 3 decades.”

The Church in the USA is getting older. Younger generations aren’t replacing those who are passing away. This isn’t new news. What is new is that we can actually see it happening around us. For more than a decade, groups have sounded the alarm that young adults are leaving the church. The hope has been that they would return, even if it didn’t look promising. Now we see the bleak reality. The median ages of so many protestant traditions is trending old. Ryan said that 57% of Southern Baptists have turned 55. In the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, it’s a staggering 68%.

It’s not the “liberal” churches that are struggling. It’s all churches. Some traditions are doing better than others, but the Church in America is getting old.

This isn’t a good data point. And if I only read that fact on my twitter feed I would have been very despondent. However, in my email the same day, Barna Research sent out a snippet of their new research report on teens. It turns out teens are open to learning about Jesus!

“Over Half of Gen Z Teens Feel Motivated to Learn More About Jesus”

This is amazing news! Barna calls this study the “Open Generation” because teens are very open to Jesus and even Scripture. I have the report, and it’s fascinating. It’s not all good news, but there is hope in the report. Teens are open to Jesus.

Investing in kids and teens has never been more important. We must seek to reach kids and teens so that they can love Jesus. I’m blessed to work at a church that cares about kids and teens. There is a lot of investment here, and a desire to help kids know Jesus and follow Him.

That being said, I think the Church in the USA has to double down on her investment and reach of kids and teens. We need to be all in. I think God is moving in the lives of Students. I see it with the students that attend LCC.

The news might not be all great, but I sense a revival coming. I just hope we are on the right side of it: nurturing it, empowering it, joining it, investing in it.

I know I’m all in. Will you join me?

Affirming Someone's Humanity

Everyone wants to be noticed, named, and known.

I was introduced to that phrase in Springtide Research Institute’s study, “Belonging.” It’s a fascinating piece of research. If you think about it, it is exact what you want to experience. Countless students over the years have told me this. They want someone to understand them, respect them, realize they are in the room, and assure them they belong. And its not just students, let’s face it, we all are jr. highers in bigger bodies. (if you don’t buy that you are in denial)

My heart aches for that. I want to belong. When I’m the most depressed, I doubt the truth that I belong. My brain plays tricks on me and convinces me that no one cares, that I have no tribe, that I will be by myself forever. Belonging is huge!

Belong affirms a person’s humanity.

Preston Sprinkle talks about affirming someone’s humanity in his book, “People to be Loved.” I left that book realizing that everyone wants to be affirmed that they are human. As a Christian I believe that God made us on purpose in His image, which gives us dignity. We are set apart to join God in his creative work. He gave us a purpose. He knit us together in our mother’s womb. Our humanity is sacred.

But humans are really bad at helping each other remember that. Maybe it’s because of the broken world we live in. We are more concerned with filling our buckets of insecurities than we are helping others remember the truth of their creation. It’s hard to affirm someone else’s humanity when your internal world fights against you to remember it yourself.

I think affirming someone’s humanity helps people realize that they matter. I also think it helps people feel seen. When you see me as a human being, I belong. I’m not some “other” or an issue to be avoided, but someone who has innate worth. Affirming someone’s humanity says you are an equal. We are in this together.

Sometimes we make it really hard to join God in His mission to redeem the world. But it’s probably easier than we think it is. It may come down to noticing people, learning their name, and knowing them.

Maybe that is the best way to affirm the humanity in your neighbor.

So pay attention and notice, name, and know the people around you. It may change the trajectory of that person’s life.