These type of posts, almost without fail, point to external factors when it comes to the rise of secularism in the developed world. It’s as if people abandoning your religious viewpoint and sense of obligation is simply to be blamed on other people. This is what the issue is in the first place. You need to model and explain why faith is important. You need to figure out why people are being turned away from church. Maybe the way we’ve always done it is part of the issue.
My spouse is ending a term as the Pastor of a church that was in dire need of renewal. It’s small, but has about 10 very active children. Most of the oldest people would come and go in the middle of the service and yet children not being nailed to their seats was disrespectful and “not how we did it when I had kids”. Guess what, they can’t even model what they show disdain for! There was a very active renewal effort which my spouse was leading and successfully reaching many of the “younger” people. My spouse had established a tight bond with the children who were there. However, about a month ago, the church council voted to not renew my spouse’s call and the renewal efforts. This weekend those who opposed change, thinking they had succeeded in getting their way, where literally weeping and flabbergasted that 2/3s of the church plans to leave along with all of the children. What these much older people failed to see is that they failed to explain their faith adequately to their baby boom children, who are now grandparents, and not attending in great numbers.
