Reviving religion amongst teens

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Permalink Reply by Aidan Clevinger on February 9, 2009 at 9:08pm

That's actually a great idea, if only we could get others on board with it.

The problem is the fact that teenagers in general (believe me, I see it at my school all the time) are distrustful of "religion". The word has been given a negative connotation, to the point where when one considers religion, one thinks almost immediately of hypocritical goody two-shoes church men and women who read their Bibles every minute of the day and shriek at people who disagree with them. This may not be true, but it's how our society (in particular the youth) see religion.

What's interesting, though, is that while people do not like religion or religious people (contempt for those who call themselves "Christians" is extremely widespred), there has never been a higher interest in spirituality, and Jesus remains very attractive to people. You've probably heard the phrase, "I like your Christ, I don't like your Christians". That's very true nowadays. It isn't the gospel that has gone out of favor, it's the presenters of the gospel.

I think that if we truly are seeking a revival among youth, we have to make sure that we make it very clear that Jesus Christ doesn't want people to go to church or give an offering, but to have a real and personal relationship with Him. While Christianity is a religion, it isn't the religion that saves. It's Christ.

I also think that the old technique of "mass crusades" like those held by Billy Graham are no longer effective. People will be turned off by a message that doesn't feel addressed to them personally. Most evangelism "methods" (in particulary the Living Waters kind) don't even ask a person's name. If you receive a letter entitled "to Resident", you automatically assume it's junk, right? In the same way, we need to let people know that we care about them as people.

Sorry for the long post, but this is a topic I'm passionate about. A great book on the subject is "Irrisistible Evangelism"; it's all about knowing people's "spiritual address" and speaking to them as people and not as "numbers" or "potential converts".

Thoughts on that long-winded post anyone?

Love in Christ,

Aidan

Permalink Reply by Daniel Z. on February 10, 2009 at 3:42pm

Yeah thats why I think it would be great if various influential people could do something like that. Like a 40 second commercial with random influential people like Bill Gates, Rihanna, Leonardo Di Caprio, Lil Wayne, etc say something like "my religion isn't going to save me, Christ is!" or "I do read the bible often, but I do other things as well" or "hey I'm religious". People tend to follow the fashion and trends others set, so if those same people saw stars they follow say things like that it could at least make them have a second thought about being religious. Maybe have billboards of celebs like Travis Barker posing looking straight ahead while having his arms wrapped around a bible, or like of Ringo Starr. You see what I'm saying? Making propaganda if you will is what I would say help out a lot.