Closing the Back Door

The title of this piece refers to a growing "problem" in churches: they have become pass-through entities, sort of like restaurants. You consistently go to one for a while, then become less frequent, then disappear when you find a new one. This is especially true in youth ministry. High school kids treat churches and/or youth programs like you would expect a consumer to treat any other marketable item; run to what is unique, fun, and flashy and stay until you see the next unique, fun, flashy thing. You could sink a battleship with all the books, DVD's, and seminar materials devoted to this topic. So here is one more, with a twist. This one is written by a non-believer. Sometimes it takes someone a little distance from a problem to correctly diagnose it.

Parents; don't lie to your kids. You may fool them for a while, but not forever. And the longer you lie to them the farther and faster they will fly out of the church door.