Losing Youth to the False Gospel of Moralism

I read two seemingly unrelated articles yesterday that have swirled together and I can’t get out of my head. One discussed the recent Barna group study on youth leaving the church and the other was on the false gospel of moralism. The false gospel is the belief that the gospel can be reduced to improvement in behavior.

I believe we are losing youth and many others because we are conveying this false gospel. When our youth wander away, we call after them, “Just wait until you have rebellious kids. You’ll be back. You’ll see.” Except these folks aren’t coming back. Many aren’t getting married. Those who do are doing so much later and after having drifted much further from the church. Our words are ringing in their ears. They understand that for us religion was just a means to keep them in line, to improve their behavior. 

We often fail to convince that Jesus offers the only life worth living. Instead we preach “You act better or you’ll make baby Jesus cry.” No wonder that our performance based “religion” produces frustration and a search for a better way. We have failed to demonstrate by our lives that Jesus is the better way.

The Barna study concludes: “Churches, organizations and families owe this generation more. They should be treated as the intelligent, capable individuals they are—a generation with a God-given destiny. Renewed commitment is required to rethink and realign disciple-making in this new context. Mosaic believers (the drop outs) need better, deeper relationships with other adult Christians. They require a more holistic understanding of their vocation and calling in life—how their faith influences what they do with their lives, from Monday through Saturday. And they also need help discerning Jesus’ leading in their life, including greater commitment to knowing and living the truth of Scripture.” 

When we live a performance based life, we don’t draw men to Jesus. Our lives don’t attract at all. They appear void of joy and purpose. Isn’t that what youth, in fact, everyone else seeks, joy and purpose? We need to make our churches places where one finds joy and purpose and not a “shape up or ship out” message. We can never make ourselves holy. That’s the lie of the false gospel of moralism. The truth is that Jesus makes us holy, sets us apart, for a purpose filled, and thus joyous, life.

Get the gospel straight and

Be blessed.

Nick