Unless the Lord Builds the House

Intro

Thank you Stephanie for that encouraging challenge for how parents can get involved in Kids U.

Hasn’t tonight been amazing?

In 2019, Lifeway Research did a study of students who left the faith in college. The study showed that of the students who remained in the church until college two-thirds would no longer attend church regularly.

- Ben Trueblood, director of student ministry at Lifeway, said those numbers speak to the issue at hand. “We are seeing teenagers drop out of the church as they make the transition out of high school and student ministry,” he said. “This moment of transition is often too late to act for churches.”

People have speculated as to why, but few provide answers more along the line of speculation.

Yet, it was when this information that came out and I was wrestling with this statistical reality that the Lord brought Deut 6 came roaring off the page and it changed my heart on the way I looked at student ministry all together.

Deuteronomy 6:4–7 ESV

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Verse 7 hit me in the face, I grew up in a home that I saw my dad do devotions, we regularly talked in the car about God, and after I got saved both my parents became go to people for me to ask questions about the Bible.

I began to think about those that I grew up with and those that were largely still in church were those that I knew had parents involved in their students spiritual life.

They were Sunday School Teachers, volunteers on trips, Wednesday Night Worship and small groups.

They weren’t afraid to ask their kids about what they were learning about the Lord, and many had family devotions.

Those that weren’t involved in their students lives, most of them, not all, seem to largely be out of the faith.

Whether a student wants to admit it or not, they look up to their parents and value what parents encourage.

We are in a society that largely pushes students to sports and career paths than spiritual paths.

- Now, if you are actively involved in your students spiritual life, and are pushing them and encouraging them to grow in their faith, Praise JESUS!

The fact remains that in this room, statistics say that after graduation, only about a third will remain faithful to worship the Lord in college unless something changes.

It is never too late to get involved in your students life, start showing them why the Lord is priority number one and always should be number one in our life.

So how do you get involved?

This year, as a student ministry we will be launching

a reading plan through the year, Robby Gallaty has put together a reading plan called F260. We will be reading it as a ministry. I want to encourage you to read it with us and ask your students what they are learning each day.

Also, we will be teaching on a passage from the reading every week throughout the next year. We will be sending out the small group questions we have prepared to all of our families through the newletter so that you can engage your students also.

Another great way is volunteering to be a host home for turning point, small group leader throughout the year, a camp leader, and so much more.

On that note, we wanted to take a few moments tonight to give you some big dates that are coming!

Turning Point will be February 4—6 this year!

We are going back to Shepherd of the Ozarks for our youth camp, and it will Be June 13-17!

We want you to have these dates so that you can plan summer around Camp. We had an amazing year this past summer and do not want a single student to miss out on growing in their faith and closer to each other.

We have so many exciting things in the Pipeline right now as well.

We have sign ups for Discipleship where students get paired with an adult who helps keep that group accountable to remain faithful in the Word. Sign ups can be found on our website. They meet on Sunday Nights at 6:30.

We also have our Ambassador program open for applications right now.

Both Discipleship and Ambassador sign ups end on September 19! With Discipleship starting on September 26th and the first ambassador meeting will be October 3rd.

Please pray about how you can get plugged in and help with Student ministry.

Bryan