Arvada – Taking the pulpit Monday morning at Faith Bible Chapel, Ron Luce speaks of a “moral Hurricane Katrina.”
America’s youths face a gathering storm of exposed midriffs, Victoria’s Secret ads and point-and-click pornography, he says. Nothing less than the direction of the country for generations to come is at stake.
His battle cry: While evangelical Christians are exerting greater influence in the public square, the future of the movement is dire unless churches do a better job of preventing young people from losing their religion once they reach college age.
“It’s a time of urgency,” said Luce, of Texas-based Teen Mania Ministries. “We’re doing conferences and clapping and congratulating each other, and the train is coming off the tracks.”
About 200 Colorado pastors and youth-ministry workers locked hands and yelled “Hallelujah!” – lending their endorsement to a 43-city “Battlecry Leadership Summit” tour meant to inspire evangelicals to rethink strategies for reaching youths.
The controversial claim behind Luce’s urgency is an estimate that only 4 percent of millennials – the generation born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s – will be “Bible-believing Christians” by the time they reach adulthood.
Even Ted Haggard, one of a dozen high-profile evangelicals on a coalition supporting the effort, is skeptical of the decade- old statistic, which is cited in a poll by a Southern Baptist former professor.
Haggard, who spoke at Monday’s event, said it’s part of the evangelical culture to sound alarms. But he believes churches are losing young people and that recent news events illustrate the potentially dire consequences.
“Even if the 4 percent figure is off or in some people’s view it’s too alarming, would it be too alarming if the kid we rescued was the person who became the man in the (Bailey) school shooting at students?” said Haggard, a Colorado Springs pastor and president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Luce warned that the United States risks becoming a “post- Christian” society, like Europe. Youths need to be viewed as future shapers of culture, the next judges and business leaders, he said.
“This is not a question of teenagers,” he said. “The issue is, what do we want America to become?”
Lane Palmer, a youth-ministry specialist with Dare 2 Share, an Arvada-based Christian ministry, said youth outreach must provide not just a place to meet but a setting for young people to explore their faith, ask questions and interact with the real world.
For example, Dare 2 Share conference participants go door-to- door handing out food to needy people and invite strangers to pray with them.
“Kids need to take ownership of their beliefs and apply it to all aspects of their lives, not just compartmentalize it,” Palmer said. “Kids say, ‘I have my church life, but it’s Sunday and Wednesday. Then on MySpace, I’m a different person.”‘
George Morrison, senior pastor of Faith Bible Chapel, allowed that some people might question whether the evangelical movement is in jeopardy given that churches such as his are thriving and conservative Christians are politically influential.
“All those things are happening, but we’re still in a battle for the minds of our youth,” he said. “There are so many options out there for young people, and if you don’t have a better way …
“We can’t let our guard down.”
Denver Post wire services contributed to this report.
Staff writer Eric Gorski can be reached at 303-954-1698 or egorski@denverpost.com.
