Do We Change to Meet Their Needs?

“Public schools must change. If we do not change to meet the needs of our customers, then they will go elsewhere. And, to continue to ignore this salient fact is short sighted and an extreme danger to the continuation of public education”

Jan Borelli
The School Administrator

I have been thinking about that quote that came across my desk last week. Public schools are changing immensely from the way we did school 20 years ago. We have started to emphasize the state curricular standards more and encourage students to take as much science and math as possible. We have examined different course schedules and looked at the senior year of high school and found ways to enhance the learning opportunities for seniors. We have gone to all-day kindergarten so all children can have educational opportunities that, in the past, they did not receive. We serve breakfast, lunch and after-school snacks in our after-school programs. Technology and problem-solving are key elements in classrooms across our district. School buildings have been turned into community learning centers.

How about Church?

What are we doing to meet the needs of our customers?

Are we meeting the needs of our young people today as future leaders in the church?

Across the United States, we are losing the majority of our young people when they leave and go off to college or to the work-world. Why?

I have a couple of thoughts after visiting and listening to young people.

First, the Church is not relevant to them. They don’t understand why they have to go to church if the adults don’t go. They don’t understand why their opinions are not given any validity.

Second, the Church is boring. Our young people are very bored of how we do church. Can you blame them? We live in a world where technology has taken us to new heights. Our kids have ipods, palms, laptops, dvd’s, cd’s, cell phones………and then we ask them to sit in an ancient worship service for a modern day world. Sometimes I have difficulty doing this.

So, what’s the answer?

Do we throw out worship?

We must meet the needs of our culture today by staying true to God’s Word. We must find ways to involve our young people more in the planning of worship where it does become relevant and interesting to them.

We need to show them why worship is important. By being adult examples. Being at services. Participating in services. Looking like we enjoy worship services.

Then we need to instill in them that worship is for God not us! Sometimes we do things in worship that might seem boring. But God doesn’t. God sees us as servants praising Him if our hearts are truly centered on Him.

The Churches of Christ are losing our young people. If we don’t act quickly, souls will be lost and our churches will sit empty.