The 4% Panic Attack

4%.

That's the number that's been promoted by some of the "biggest names" in the "conservative movement" in "evangelical churches" about how many current teenagers will be "Bible-believing Christians" as adults.

The Baby Boomers numbers were at 35%.
The WWII Generation numberse were at 65%.

Those "big names" are going all Chicken Little about this number. Barna, the Christian researcher, says the number should actually be 5%. This helps the "big names" go all Chicken Little all the more.

Frankly, I think the numbers are too low. Poor research methods--or at least poor definition of terms, in one case--got them to those numbers.

Oh, and if you're into reading the N.Y. Times article today that sparked this entry with the headline "Evangelicals Fear the Loss of Their Teenagers" you can get that right here. My friend Kristen, the pierced and tattooed one whom I adore, sent it to me in my e-mail first-thing. Love it when The Diner readership wants to hear from the owner.

Anyway, let's say the numbers are too low, and just for grins, let me quadruple them. That's still around half of where the Baby Boomers were. That's still around one-quarter of the WWII generation, right?

Welcome to what every youth minister worth their salt has known since Francis Schaeffer started writing in the 1970's: Ummm...it's a postmodern America. Now we're bordering on post-postmodern, if not post-post-postmodern. What's happened in Europe in the last 35 years or so is coming home to roost. This is NOT news to me.

And sure, the higher-profile youth ministers will point out the usual suspects: MTV and hip-hop; sex on the Web; materialism; bad parenting; a culture that mocks Christians; blah blah blah ad infinitum. It's too easy and been done to death.

And sure, the higher-profile youth ministers will have kids walk aisles and put all that stuff in trash cans and weep and come forward to pray. They'll also get on television shows and radio shows that preach to the choir go all Chicken Little on them.

But let me say this: America is not a more gross culture than say, 1st century Corinth or Ephesus or Rome. I don't find a need to go all Chicken Little on this.

This is about Christ, plain and simple.

And Christ is not safe.
He is revolutionary and dangerous.

And our megachurches and great programs and all that are useless...

...UNLESS...

We preach Christ.
The unsafe One.
The revolutionary and dangerous One.
The One who takes us out of every comfort zone we have.

And outlive the "world" at every turn. Not "out argue" them or "out debate" them or "out moralize" them.

Outlive them. Abundant life.

With passion.

With a passion worth dying for.

Then we won't lose them.

That's precisely what they're looking for.

And anything short of that is just putting Abercrombie sweatshirts and Eminem CD's in a trash can. Which may not be all bad, mind you.

It's just that until youth ministries, nay, churches, get serious about preaching that Christ and letting Him passionately take over the lives of people--no matter what their age--and they have a faith that's so real they feel like they'd honestly die for it...

...that to live a life without Him would be so foreign to them they can hardly concieve of thinking that way...

...well...

...everything else is pretty much just playing a game.

It's about Christ.
and teaching people--no matter what their age--to follow Him...

...Passionately.

Nothing more.

And...

...anything less is trifling with God.

That pretty much makes going Chicken Little over 4% or 5% or 16% pale in comparison. Our problem is we're setting the bar WAY too low.