Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
A movement within evangelical Christianity called “Church Growth” is dedicated to creating techniques for expanding churches that are based on commercial marketing tactics. As the leaders of tomorrow and the church’s future, adolescents unquestionably play a crucial part in the life of a church. Day, David, and C. Kurtz (2017). The elderly stand out, yet young people have always been the leaders of every church and have made brilliant contributions.
The youth must play a key role in the process of growth for any Christian society to experience real development (Nielson, 2016). The development of young people is increasingly a priority for intelligent governments, countries, individuals, and organizations. To ensure that such investments are never improvised or made in the dark (Nel, M., 2015).
Therefore, it is crucial for the Church of today to diligently train young people for the tasks they will inevitably face in the future. The Church can only be developed by our youth when we have properly raised them. What level of focus do we provide the kids, and what level of devotion do the youths give to the church are the questions.
Denying that today’s youngsters have high ideals would be egregiously unfair. However, we must acknowledge that these principles can frequently turn sour, be distorted, and be exploited. If young people believe their circumstances is bleak or believe that their values can be achieved nowhere, they frequently give up on them in the end. Unfortunately, this is how things typically go today.
Don’t allow anyone treat you poorly because you’re young; instead, set an example for the believers by being pure in speech, life, love, and faith (1 Timothy 4:12). This is an admonition on the need to live a Holy and blameless life addressed to a young man, Timothy. But, premarital sex, insolent speech, materialism, ruthlessness, theft and violence are some of the common vices generally found among Christian youths today (Folmsbee, C., 2007).
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Disappointments cause terrible declines, frequently to levels lower than those they denounced when their ideals were still young. Where this does not occur, false prophets of good will take advantage of ideas. Youth can be persuaded by sectarians who are not really truthful to make such incredible sacrifices. However, despite having all of Truth, the Orthodox Church finds it extremely difficult to maintain youth (Abednego: 1989).
It’s possible that by disregarding the lofty ambitions and potential moral heroism of our youngsters, we have neglected to introduce them to earlier instances of such heroism shown by our own young people, even the very young, who devoted their lives to serving Christ and His Church. The youth are crucial components of society.
Can a society exist without youth? No, of course not, which is why we must make sure that our youth take up positions of honor inside the church. Since it is unable to assist young people in becoming spiritually mature Christians, the youth ministry appears to be in crisis (Klinenberg, E. 2013).
“Salvation is God’s gift, but it comes with the obligation to live and behave, from that point on, as God wants,” David and Pat Alexander emphasized. This entails consciously letting go of the previous (selfish way of life). letting the new life transform our thinking and behavior pattern, letting go of old patterns, and changing our thinking.
Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock, Our Lord Jesus explained. The wind blasted and hammered against that home, the streams surged, and it rained, but it did not fall. because the granite served as its basis. But anyone who hears my advice but does not act on it is like an idiot who constructed his home on sand.
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beats against that house and it fell with a great crash (Matthew 7:24 – 27). It is therefore of vital importance in today’s Church to prepare the single’s ministry for the tasks they would naturally face in the coming future. It is only when we have nourished our youths that they in-turn develop the Church (De Vries, M 2004).
Church growth begins with church health and not the other way around. We see in nature that healthy things grow. This is by no means a new concept, but it’s still true. The youth must therefore in the long-run not to dilute the gospel message but discover how to live out the good news and encourage others to do so (Nielson, J. 2016).
The church exists solely to participate in what the triune God is doing in the world, not just for the enrichment of believers and its members. Because it is viewed as “a community of witness, called into being and equipped by God, and sent into the world to testify to and participate in Christ’s work” (Niemandt, C. J. P. 2012), the church is by its very nature a missionary organization.
The ministry of singles should not be disregarded by the church since it has a duty to the community. It is a component of the church taking part in God’s earthly mission. We will learn what characteristics a healthy church has from this research, as well as how youth lifestyle can encourage church growth.
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The incapacity to assess youth lifestyle and church growth is a major issue. How to accurately measure numerical increase is a different issue. There are many indications for attendance and sporadic offices. Nevertheless, measurement error and random variations have some impact on everyone. Small churches in particular struggle with this diversity. even a small number of persons being added or taken away causes significant proportional changes in the totals.
Today, a significant portion of our young Christian people disobey God’s Word in their daily lives. They are skillfully mimicking the patterns of this universe. The way that young people live today makes it very difficult to distinguish between young people who are Christians and those who
This study is important since it tries to analyze the way of life of young Christians. Educating them and alerting the victims to impending risks.
The majority of organizations, particularly those with a church setting, always want their young people to live and practice godly lifestyles (a quality modeled by Jesus). In its absence, there is a very serious conflict between the church leadership and the youth. This shows that Christian organizations strive for godly behaviors that will result in excellent behavior and the accomplishment of their goals and objectives.
Objectives of the study
The main objective of this present study is to examine the effects of the contemporary youth lifestyle on church growth in Nigeria. The researcher intends to cross examine the following sub objectives;
- To examine contemporary youth life style and church growth.
- To change the unhealthy culture of some church youth ministries.
- To cast a fresh vision for the church.
- To proffer solutions to the challenges facing youths in the church today.
1.4 Research Questions
- Does the contemporary youth lifestyle go in line with the church doctrine?
- Is there any significant relationship between the youth lifestyle and church growth?
- Do the youth contribute to the growth and sustenance of the church?
- What are the roots causes of the moral degradation and eroding of our Christian values among Christian youths?
- What are the effects of the influence on the youth and the society?
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
1.5 Research hypotheses
The following research hypothesis will guide the study;
Ho: there is no significant relationship between the youth lifestyle and church growth
H1: there is a significant relationship between the youth lifestyle and church growth
Ho: the youth lifestyle does not go in line with the church doctrine
H2:The youth lifestyles do go in line with the church doctrine
Significance of the study
This research work will assist churches, ministries, pastors, etc. In discovering the vital roles youths play in the life of a Church as they are the leaders of tomorrow and future of every church. From this research, we will discover what a healthy church is like and how youth life style can boost church growth. This research is very significant because youths are the future of every organization especially the Church.
Many, if not all church denominations in Nigeria have been affected by the change in the lifestyles of their youths. The researcher aims at digging the root cause, the effect and the appropriate way of solving the worldly lifestyles affecting our youth so that organizations, parents and youth will benefit from the research findings.
Scope/Limitations of the study
The researcher shall sample the opinion of some selected Christian youths from different churches in Nigeria through a questionnaire.
Limitations of study
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials. Literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
Definition of terms
Church Growth: is a movement within evangelical Christianity which focuses on developing methods to grow churches based on business marketing strategies.
Youth: Youth is the time of life when one is young, but often means the time between childhood and adulthood (maturity).
Life style: Lifestyles define us; they are the way we live our lives, what we do, with whom, where, how and what we use to do it.
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
Impact of Youth Contemporary Lifestyle on Church Growth
