Fighting for the Faith (Chris Rosebrough) http://www.fightingforthefaith.com/
Pastor Matt Richard: http://www.pastormattrichard.com/
Worldview Everlasting (Rev. Jonathan Fisk): http://www.worldvieweverlasting.com/
Lane Chaplin: www.lanechaplin.com
Tim Challies www.challies.com
James White www.aomin.org
Ligonier Ministries (Dr R.C. Sproul): www.ligonier.org
Marc5Solas 
Hello, I read your article on the reasons why kids leave the church this morning. Just sent it to my pastor. Thank you for writing it. It was a blessing!
Really wish you had an About Me page. It seems as many of our thoughts and beliefs about scripture and the church are in alignment. I would like to know more about you but sadly you have not included that information.
JW, I try to keep this blog focused on the gospel and away from what my “tribe” believes on various other issues. I find that my call
to preach the gospel can be clouded as I dive into “in-house” issues such (eschatology, ecclesiology, paedo/credo, etc.). I hope you won’t take this as either ducking the question or as me not considering the “in house” issues as important!
Marc
I loved this Top 10 Reasons Post. But before I send it to other people, could you correct the spelling on Point #8? Atheists not Athiests. It is more credible when spelled correctly. Thanks.
Joy,
The misspelling in #8 is in the graphic, which I did not create. I think the misspelling is actually humorous if you read the graphic itself.
Marc
Not at all. I fully see your point and understand your approach. Just for me as a minister I would like to know more about other ministers that seem to have similar views.
A friend of mine just posted your article on 10 reasons why kids leave the church. I have briefly read it, but will read it more thoroughly as I get time. I was recently told by a youth pastor of a very large church that his church no longer uses terms. The example he gave was the word sanctification. The reason he gave is, why teach an archaic word society never use anymore to get our point across. Just explain the meaning of the word, but not use the word itself. To me that is the same as not properly arming our kids, and dumbing down the Gospel of Christ. It is like teaching a child the meaning to a vocabulary word without actually teaching him/her the word. How can you do that? Pleas give me your perspective on this, and why churches today are using this method?
Terri,
I don’t have any dogmatic (oops, there’s another one) stance on using theological terms IF the concepts are taught. My experience has been that folks who state this often poorly present (or do not present) the categories themselves. I would err on the side of properly defining terms, as the greatest attack of the enemy is to slightly change text. (Gen 3:1)
Marc
Who are you? I understand your reasoning as explained to JWCUNNINGHAM above, but it would be nice to know who it is that’s writing this good stuff!
Just a clumsy waiter delivering His 5-star cuisine; hoping to just deliver it as it was made without messing it up! 😉
I’d prefer to not list denomination, so I don’t cloud the issue of the simple presentation of the gospel or limit this to my “tribe”.
If you are concerned that something crazy is going to pop out of this blog, no worries there. No future blogposts on unlocking bible codes, naming the anti-christ, or hawking my prayer-cloths. 😉
If you want a couple of categories to draw the lines around, I’m reformed and confessional.
What does confessional mean? Am I thinking too simply if I assume it means you believe in confessing sins or is it a term that means something more?
Holding to a historic confession of faith. Being able to point to something external, objective, and historical and say,,,,, “that”.
If I could presume to put words in Marc5solas’s mouth: “It’s Not About Me.”
Marc, your article written for America is a perfect description of the church in N.Ireland. Our problem is that some of the ‘most with it churches’ are doing exactly what you describe and enomination such as mine – Presbyterian – are joining the mad dash to mimic what they’re doing arahter than holding to the power of the preached Word.
Awesome. The 5 solas has been my twitter bio for sometime. I can think of no better summary of Christianity.
Thank you for this post. My husband, who is an Evangelist, and I have been concerned for years that the church is going all entertainment, with so much of the world brought in to get and keep the Youth and their parents. You’re right, young people want what is real, and not more of the same they see daily. They respond more to the challenge of “all for Jesus” and it will cost you everything to be a Christian. Christ demands on our lives must again be proclaimed to our youth, and I believe they will respond. We value most what cost most..Thanks again. Love your blog.
I’m curious to know what part of the country you write from. Here in SoCal, what you write concerning the seeker-sensitive church is happening on nearly every street corner. Although, I am continually comforted to find more and more confessional churches and congregants popping up all over the country. Until my family pursued membership in a confessional reformed church here in San Diego, I had no idea what place creeds and confessions had in the church. It seems now I hear about the departure from historical Christianity at every turn. By God’s grace He has never departed from reforming His church and letting biblical truth to succumb to the flavor of the age. And to find the Reformation doctrines still at the heart of contending for the faith has me amazed that I was so uninformed for so long!
I am in Texas
Marc5Solas, I found your Blog about the ten reasons our youth leave our churches and found it very interesting and on point. I lead a Bible study and would like to have your permission to reprint your blog to share with the group.
Certainly! Would enjoy feedback on how the discussion goes!
Thank you,
I will be more than happy to share the feed back.
If you interested I’ll share the entire series titled “Revival” with you so you will see it from beginning to end with your blog woven in.
Hi,
I am the News Editor for the Aquila Report. We would like to reprint your article on 10 reasons kids leave the church. We would, of course, include a link to your original article. Can we have your permission to reprint? If you would rather respond via email, that would be fine.
Thanks,
Rachel Miller
http://theaquilareport.com
Absolutely!
Thank you. Is there a name we should use in the by line?
Marc5Solas would be fine. Thank you for asking.
Dear Marc, I am a mother of two awesome young men who have done exactly what your blog states “Left the church”. My heart breaks, as I too have questioned God and asked, “where did I go wrong”? Can you share with me, in greater detail, what you mean by “the church not sharing the Law with the youth” but basically sugar coating our faith. Also, as a mother who desperately wants her children to have a relationship with God, what do I do for them now. My oldest tells me he does not believe in God at all. For the past few years we agreed to disagree but today I feel I might be doing him and injustice by not listening to him and letting him tell me shy he does not believe. My question now is, maybe he never believed? What are your thoughts, suggestions, or concerns. Thanks for posting your 10 reasons why youth stop attending church. Looking forward to hearing from you. Diana
Diana,
As a father of 3 daughter who are still at home, I can only imagine how that must feel. I’ll be in prayer for your family.
As for church sharing the law with the youth, in a nutshell i’m saying that the youth must be confronted with their full condemnation under the law (and their inability to keep it) and come to trust in Christ as their only hope. What we get in many “seeker” churches is law-light, a “do these things” which are, in effect, marginalize the law. People think they are “getting it” and there is no need to repent (nor is there a call to repentance).
In the end, we cannot make others believe, nor are we called to that conversion which is the work of the holy spirit. My call in this article is to preach the gospel.
I hope this was helpful!
Marc
My Wife and I need prayer. I think this is the place to ask by what I have read. Early last year we left a mega-church because the messages were so watered down with feel-good-about-yourself sermons with no preaching of sin, repentance, the blood of Jesus. A seeker friendly church. We started going to a church where the preacher was continuing to preach salvation messages every Sunday and Wednesday. We have however noticed a definite shift to becoming a “Transformational Church”. We notice the similar path that our mega church had taken years ago. We do not want to go this way. We need a small Bible-believing church to attend that preaches the Gospel. No compromises Thanks
I was wondering where the 1st Greek tutorial was? This is a wonderful resource. Thank you!
BTW, there are MUCH better resources to learn greek than mine. (Bill Mounce’s website for example). This was created as an easy intro for friends and family!
Dear Marc,
As a homeschool mom of 20 years I really appreciated your article. Just let me tell you that the reformed/Calvinist theology is what drove several kids away from church as they matured. Even though we were not of that persuasion my son nearly left his faith just realizing that many of his friends believed God created many for hell. !!! Anyway, loved your article but disagree that teaching doctrine at a young age will prevent church abandonment – it may/will do the opposite.
Louise,
Thank you for the encouraging words! As for the “Calvinism” fear, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over that. (And believing that God “created people for hell” would be rejected by nearly every “Calvinist” I’ve ever known) 😉
The disdain for Calvinism is a misunderstanding of the idea that God created some people for hell and others for heaven. Whereas, the Doctrines of Grace, (insert Calvinism if you will) the response to the teaching of Arminianism, assert that ALL of mankind is in the same lump condemned to hell. But it is ONLY by God’s electing grace that according to His eternal counsel and providence He chose out of that condemned mass (who were by nature children of wrath) those for eternal life for His own praise and glory (Eph. 1-2). Since we are ALL conceived and born in sin (Ps. 14: 2-3 & Ps. 51:5) and there is no one who seeks God, (Rom. 3: 9-12) rather, He seeks us by His grace, there will likewise be no one in hell who was unjustly or prematurely sent there. God had every Divine right to immediately condemn Adam & Eve to eternal hell following the fall, but it was His grace that prevented it in order to bring about the Covenant of Redemption appointed in eternity past. And this same grace goes on today as He continues to call His elect to faith. This understanding of “Calvinism” demonstrates the mercies of God far more than any “injustice” on His part. Romans 9 is clear on this point.
I’m happy to hear you are not in their circles. 🙂 Thank you again for your very insightful article/study and for allowing the great discussion following. You are addressing a serious issue and do it very well.
Hi Louise,
I had meant to leave the above comment under your previous heading but inserted under Marc’s last response to you. I hope it helps to clear up the uncomfortable understanding you’ve had regarding Calvinism. It took me a while to understand the actual historical outworking of this doctrine, and now can embrace its marvelous summary of Scripture.
Marc,
Heard your article about the reasons teens leave church, on fighting for the faith podcast. It really struck home for me. I have four sons. Two are young adults now and are in church. My other two are a junior and senior in high school. I am more worried for them. Are there resources you would recommend I use at home that could help? I thought we were doing well at teaching them the biblical precepts, but I’m not so sure anymore. They are bright young men, accepted Jesus as their savior when they were younger, but are now asking questions about things I thought they were solid with. With them going to college soon, I wondered what I could use to help strengthen them. I consider my boys smarter at this age than I was, so maybe I have simplified things too much. Sorry so long. Thanks for the blogpost .
Marc,
I am the Director of Discipleship for the Assemblies of God. I would like to use your blog “Top 10 Reasons our Kids Leave Church.” could you assist me with this? You can contact me on my email. Thank you so much!! Great article!!!!!
Feel free to use however you feel it would be useful. Would love to see links to whatever you do! You can e-mail me at marc5solas at gmail dot com.
Marc
Thanks for this post. I myself left the evangelical church–for the Orthodox church. Of course now I’m rasing my kids in it, I have no idea if they’ll stick around, but at least it won’t be because of any of your ten excellent reasons. Outstanding, thank you for articulating what I haven’t been able to for many years.
I like your Top 10 reasons kids leave the church piece. You sound passionate and articulate. I appreciate this and from your tone it seems that you are not just pontificating, but, I am curious as to what you hope to happen. What are your goals? And do you want to remain semi-anonymous? I only ask this because of curiosity and the fact that you did reach out with this to the millions of others on facebook. Feal free to email me. A fellow believer in Christ….!
My hope is that we return to our primary charge of proclaiming the gospel of repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and that we make disciples of our youth, teaching them the fundamentals of the faith. I haven’t offered a counter “method” because the *how* we do that may look different in different environments. (And frankly, our quest for the next, better, method is part of the pragmatic problem to begin with)
As for being semi-anonymous, I’ve been on the radio as well as podcasts and video, so I’m not being intentionally mysterious.
I have avoided speaking much to which “tribe” I come from to avoid being discounted due to issues outside of the core message of repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
For those that *need* the categories:
I’m confessional and reformed. I confess the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds. No weird theological skeletons in the closet. You don’t have to worry about me throwing out goofy end-times predictions, naming the anti-christ, selling prayer cloths, or weighing in on the latest political issues.
Marc
Hey Marc,
I read some of your articles and I find them very insightful and interesting. I really liked your blog on hypocrisy in the church and agree with what you say. I too know that I myself am definitely a hypocrite. I strive everyday to live out the Christian life that the Lord calls us to live. I know I fail at this calling, everyday, and that in this failing I am a hypocrite. (But thankfully the Lord came down to earth as the ultimate sacrifice for our failure. Woohoo!)
I myself have recently started writing blogs about our faith. I would greatly appreciate it if you read some of my blogs and gave me some feedback on what you think about my writing and ideas.
Looking forward to reading your next blogs!
Brittany (waarheidsoeker)