Generational Drift

No demographic is challenged more by the times in which we live than young people. Every church on the planet struggles to retain its youth.

Judges 2:10, 11 speaks to this when it says, when all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.

Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served the Baals. The generation that had not had the experience of their parents or grandparents drifted catastrophically from God.

History repeats, and today we face the same challenge as that faced by God’s people in earlier times. Raising children in a “good Christian home” simply isn’t enough. In order to maintain faith in God, children must have an experience of their own in the things of heaven. It is imperative that they are led to develop a personal relationship with God. It has often been the case that Grandma and Grandpa chose to follow God and were faithful believers. Their children were educated in good schools and became successful in their chosen fields, but their children ended up far from where faith led Grandma and Grandpa. The difference wasn’t that Grandma and Grandpa were old-fashioned and their grandchildren were worldly.

Grandma and Grandpa were involved in church life, took part in mission work, and valued their faith so much they shared it with others.

If we want to see our children stay connected to God, we must teach them to have a personal relationship with God and give them opportunities to experience and share their faith. No young person ever turned away from faith in God while having a meaningful daily devotional experience. The tendency of the world is to drag our children downstream and away from faith in Christ. If we are intentional, proactive, and prayerful, our children can be successful Christians who love and live for God.