Go to church? Boring! Super Bowl Party? Exciting!
That’s the way many young people raised in the church size up their options for this weekend. 31% of 18 to 29-year olds told the Barna Group, “Church is boring,” 24% say, “Faith is not relevant to my career or interests” and 23% say, “My church does not prepare me for real life.” Remember, these are young people raised in our churches.
So what’s a pastor and church to do? This from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Every day brings to the Christian many hours in which he will be alone in an unchristian environment. These are the times of testing. This is the test of true meditation and true Christian community. Has the fellowship…transported him for a moment into a spiritual ecstasy that vanishes when everyday life returns, or has it lodged the Word of God so securely and deeply in his heart that it holds and fortifies him?” (For All the Saints, I, 286)
Two more stats affirm what Bonhoeffer wrote. 23% say, “The Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” and 20% say, “God seems missing from my experience of church.” Compare how many people will watch the Super Bowl to how many people will go to church. Why?
Comments