The 70%

Scott McFarland
04/28/24 - Sun AM Worship

Scripture:  Deuteronomy 6: 4-9

Parenting Faithful Children

I’m no expert on parenting—I’m right in the middle of my parenting years.  I’ve made and continue to make lots of mistakes, so I’m not claiming to know much about the topic.  When I was in youth ministry, however, I began noticing something.  A lot of our kids were leaving after high school and not coming back.  Even if they stayed in town, they didn’t come back to our church; it was even more the case for those who went away to college or other places.  I was always bothered by this…why is it so common?  Nationwide, about 70% of Christian teens will graduate high school and not return to church—that’s a national number spread across churches of all denominations and fellowships.  That’s a lot of kids.  Why is this and is there anything we can do about it?

Over the next several weeks, we’ll dive into a series I’ve entitled, “The 70%: Parenting Faithful Children.”  My hope is that we’ll talk about this crisis, what has contributed to it, and what things we can do to slow it down.  Sadly, even under ideal conditions, not all of our children will live faithful Christian lives in their adult years.  That’s just the reality.  There are, however, things that can be done to increase the likelihood that your son or daughter will continue to walk with God after they leave your home.  I hope you’ll join us for the duration of the series and learn as we look at the Bible for our answers to this problem.

Scott McFarland