WHY ARE YOUNG PEOPLE NO LONGER IDENTIFYING THEMSELVES AS CHRISTIANS

More and more young people no longer identify themselves as Christians.  It would seem that they abandoned Christianity.  Older generations are worried and saddened believing that younger generations are giving up on their faith in Christ.  However, this may be a problem of mistaken perception.  Talk to young people.  Ask them about Jesus.  What are they thinking and feeling with their head and heart.” Many will express something like this:

“I love the true and living Christ.  I follow the one who was a Friend of Sinners; the one who was the enemy of religion, the one who loved people more than events, the one who was embarrassed with the religious/ spiritual expression in His own time, and who came to show us a new way.”

Many young people are beginning to understand that the Gospel is very different than Christianity. They see the Gospel as all about love and Christianity as just a response to that message, the Gospel as embraced as the Good News of Salvation, to all people, everywhere and Christianity as an imperfect expression of the people who receive and acknowledge that news, the Gospel as the finished work of Christ, Christianity as the unfinished work of men.  They embrace the Gospel that to them communicates Christ’s forgiveness, their reconciliation with God, and the continuing journey of obedient fellowship and intimacy with Christ by Holy Spirit as they are being restored and perfected, not by the church or Christianity, but by the living Christ.

Bravo for so many young people who are figuring these things out.  They’ve not given up following Jesus.  Their choice in how they articulate their identity though is both a critique of Christianity and an affirmation of their true faith.  Thanks be to God!

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