Public School’s Impact on Christianity in America
Read about the declining Christian population in the US today…
“In other words, a steadily shrinking share of young adults who were raised Christian (in childhood) have retained their religious identity in adulthood over the past 30 years.”
Lear more about public (government run) schools’ contribution to this reality…
“More than 60 percent of twenty-somethings who were churched as teens are now disengaged from the church.”
Mounting evidence reveals that Church, Sunday School, and Youth Group need a paideia-building partner in the Education arena! Truly discipling God’s kids can no longer be done effectively by working around, ignoring, or attempting to undo public education’s influence.
The solution for both parents and pastors…
Develop a vision statement for your children, youth. What kind of disciple should they be, how should they reason, what worldview will they rely on when they depart high school, enter university or professional life?
Examine the major influencers that are shaping their young hearts and minds to determine what is helping or hindering the manifestation of this vision in their lives. Church, Sunday school, youth group, friends, media, and SCHOOL.
Make changes. Research options in your area. Move your children into those cultures that will assist instead of resist you and your mission.
Parents may need financial assistance to adopt this strategy. Pastors can assist by raising and distributing funds to needy families in their own congregations. This requires pastors and church leadership to see that investment in this chronological, generational mission field is indispensable and inseparable from the great commission. Pastors in some of the most liberal areas of the US are finding that encouraging and providing assistance to Christian families that are serious about discipling their children and want to move them from the increasingly anti-Christian environment of government run schools into Christ honoring, Biblical worldview building, and disciple-making Christian schools and home school environments, are attracting more and more young families. They are experiencing an infusion of new life in their churches.
Bob
Pastor and Schoolmaster
