Students Should Not Be Afraid to Go to School

I grew up in Detroit.  Motown in the 50’s and early 60’s was a wonderful place to be.  Reflecting back, it was almost an idyllic existence for a boy.  My friends and I considered the whole east side our playground.  It was not uncommon on a summer’s day to pack a lunch, and get our bikes to go exploring.  For long excursions we would take the bus downtown or to Tiger Stadium to watch a ball game.  The city was a relatively safe place and we never felt threatened. Somehow, that all changed in 1963 with the assassination of President Kennedy.  Within a few years two more of our heroes would be assassinated and the Vietnam War would escalate.  Still I never personally felt threatened.  As I contemplate the past, I believe one of the reasons I felt safe and secure was because of the environment I was in much of the time.  Our home was a safe place and so was my school. 

I went off to college in Chicago.  The Windy City was an exciting place to live.  The elevated trains and subway allowed me to explore the city.  I especially felt safe and secure on our campus in suburban River Forest.  There was no need for a campus police force.  We kept our dorm rooms unlocked and the building itself was accessible 24/7. 

I contrast that to today when there is even talk of school metal detectors and allowing teachers and school administrators to carry guns.  It is difficult for me to identify with such a world.  I spent my last eleven years of ministry in a high school environment.  It was a much different world even ten years ago.  Yet, the truth is it is the environment our students live in today.  As we learned at Sandy Hook, even first grade classrooms are not safe.  Hardly a week goes by when we do not hear of another school shooting.

We should not be surprised that in a recent Pew Research poll 57% of the teens surveyed indicated they worried about a shooting at their school.  Sixty-three percent (63%) of the parents surveyed shared their concern.  It is the world we live in.  The threat of violence has become a reality, but the other abiding truth is the love and security we have in Jesus Christ is the same.  Jesus lived and died in a violent world.  He also conquered that world and along the way defeated death as well.  We need to live confidently in that peace.  We also need to be sharing that peace with the next generation.  The threat might be real, but so is the hope we have in Christ.

The Great Commission: Shame on Us

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,

and teaching them all things I have commanded of you.”

Matthew 28:19-20a

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20a) should be at the core of the mission statement for any church that claims Jesus as Savior.  It should be at on the heart and mind of every person who calls themselves a Christian.  Our top priority, individually and collectively, should be to grow the church that was established in the Name of Jesus.  A new poll from the Barna Group underscores how far short we have fallen in not only living out Jesus’ command but in passing it on to the next generation.

According to the survey, over half of the Christians (51%) polled are not even familiar with the term “Great Commission.”   That is a serious problem.  How can we expect success when most of the membership do not even know and understand why we exist?  What kind of success would a company have if half the sales force did not know the details on the product they were representing?    Unfortunately we cannot assume that the other half of those polled even know of Jesus’ command to “make disciples.”  When presented with a list of scripture references, only 17% were able to identify Matthew 28:18-20 as the “Great Commission.”

    

Age seems to make a significant difference in whether Christians recognize the Great Commission. More than one-quarter of Elders (29%) and Boomers (26%) says they know the text.  That compares to 17% of Gen X and one in 10 Millennials (10%).  Still that is nothing to brag about.  Even older adults seem to have lost sight of what the number #1 priority of the Christian Church should be.  In my opinion, that can be traced to the reality that for Christians over the age of fifty the number one priority is preserving what they have, rather than sharing it. 

I would like to think that not all is lost.  If you have read this far I believe you have a heart for ministry.  I would hope that 100% of my readers are aware of the Great Commission and that most could quote it from memory.  If that is the case, change has to start with us.  The key to passing the torch to the next generation is to make sure that generation understands who we are and what we stand for.  That begins by making sure they know Matthew 28:19-20, and then modeling that in our own lives.