Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / Aug. 26, 2021, edition 1 / Page 11
Part of Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
The Chronicle August 26, 2021 B3 Why young people are shunning church: one young man’s perspective Elder Richard Wayne Wood Sunday School Lesson BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY THE CHRONICLE Hope Eternal Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:10 By the end of this lesson, we will: *Acknowledge the hope Paul, faced with death, manifested in God’s eternal promise; *Experience awe in the faith of family and friends who are facing their mortality; *Develop a growing trust in God’s promise of eter nal life through faith. Background: In 2 Corinthians, 4th chapter, Paul ad dresses suffering - explaining the comfort in suffering and the means of deliverance from suffering. He tells of the triumph that Christ provides through other believers who supported him because of the Gospel. 2 Corinthians also speaks to God as the one who raised Jesus from the dead and will do the same for the believer, and speaks of the Holy Spirit as God, spiritual and physical life, and the role of faith for the believer and the perspective of the future as a resurrected saint. Lesson: Paul says that because he believes what God’s word says and because of his personal belief that God will raise the believer as He did Christ, he sees the body of believers increasing - “For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God” (4:15). Speaking to the body of be lievers, Paul encourages them with the knowledge that there is renewal that is available daily to believers. He recognizes the physical reality of age and its effects on the physical man, but emphasizes that the soul is the eternal part of a believer and is being renewed as the in ner self of the believer continues to grow and mature in Christlikeness. He expresses that a part of the renewing process is suffering (noting his own). He refers to it as “momentary, light affliction.” Paul is convinced that the greater the suffering, the greater the reward in the life to come (verses 17-18). Paul speaks of the assurance of resurrection in verses 1-5. He contends that man’s earthly resistance is fragile, insecure and lowly. The human body is referred to as the earthly tabernacle and as such is temporary, but there is “... a house not made with hands, eternal in the heav ens” (5:1) available to all true believers. Paul is speak ing of the new body that is to be had only as heavenly residents - that body is eternal. So, because we live in expectation of eternal glory - “we groan,” longing to be free from this earthly body and the physical and mental expressions of mortality (verses 2-4). There is comfort for the believer in God’s provision. The Holy Spirit is given to the believer as a precursor of the heavenly exis tence that will come as a part of our eternal inheritance. “... Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a pledge” (verse 5). “... while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord.” We cannot live in both our temporary and our eternal, glorified bodies at the same time. However, the believers’ hope is in God’s Word. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We live in faith, trusting that God is tell ing the truth (verses 7-8). “For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ... ” The faithfulness of each believer will be evaluated by Christ. He expects us to find the fruit of our lives ... whether we have invested in the kingdom of God. Checking our choices, have we made choices that will please God (verses 9-10). “And, behold, I come See Hope on B4 A few years ago, I wrote an article about why I felt young people were walking away from the church in record numbers. I touched on several is sues that I have witnessed and why things are totally different now versus dur ing our parents’ or grand parents’ generation when nearly everyone went to church. Recently, I saw a post on Facebook where some young people were talk ing about the same topic. With all of the reservations young people had about the church, I felt the pan demic would have been a great way to reinforce the connection the church has with the community. From what I saw on the Facebook post, for many young people, that did not happen. One of the young men on the post made some val id points, so I reached out to him for an interview to expand upon his thoughts. Frankie Gist recently sat down with The Chronicle and these are his thoughts on why young people have been leaving the church. Question: Is this a trend that you have noticed recently, or something that has been happening for years? Answer: This is some thing that has been hap pening for several years now. You’re talking to someone who grew up in ministry. I did everything the church wanted me to do and I was that, promis ing child that people said was going to be a preacher one day. All I was taught is that you have to live right and if you don’t, God is not going to bless you and you won’t make it to heaven. I didn’t realize how bad church folk were, and it’s not necessarily the church, because I want to make it clear that we are the church, it’s the people inside these buildings act ing like they don’t have skeletons inside of their closets. I went from church to the street, because I got hurt in the church and the streets showed me more love than the church ever did. I watched how some Frankie Gist Submitteed photo of my peers and some around me, or even from afar, how church folk threw them away and they never looked back at the church ever again. It’s not that they don’t love God, they just don’t like going to that building that they call church. Q: Do you think your story is similar to other people that have also gravitated away from the church? A: It’s crazy how the church is supposed to be the hospital, where if I’m broken, I can be healed, if I’m confused, you can make my mind straight. So, the church is a hos pital, but it’s like you’re going to the hospital to die, because they kill ev ery dream you had, every faith that you had, and ev ery hope that you had. The thing is, so many people experienced something like I experienced in the church. When you thought you could go to a church and find different, but in stead you found hurt, it’s very hard for someone to trust a church again. So, I do believe a lot of young people walked away from the church for the same reasons I walked away, which was church hurt and people judging me and not knowing me. Q: Since you have walked away from the church, do you still con sider yourself a religious person? A: I am not a religious person; I am a spiritual person. I always say that it’s relationship over re ligion, because so many people are religious, but don’t have a relationship. So many people speak re ligion, but don’t talk about the power of having rela tionship. You have to get to know God for yourself and so I wouldn’t con sider myself as religious, I would consider myself as spiritual, but I am big bn relationship with God over religion. Q: What do you think needs to change inside the church to change this cur rent trend with the younger generation? A: First, the church has to wake up; the church is sleeping. And let’s talk about the problems in the church, which is why the church can’t reach no body, because the bishop is sleeping with folks, the pastor is sleeping with folks, they are doing fraud, they are doing all types of different things, and the problem is the only way the church is going to be able to reach young people is to meet them where they are. You can’t go into Pied mont Circle talking Jesus if I never knew Jesus. It’s OK to wear jeans and a regular t-shirt and go out there to talk about football instead of talking about Jesus, because Mary said it best, it’s the God in me. When you are truly anointed and when you are in God’s favor, you don’t have to say Jesus’ name, because the anointing on your life should make their soul so convicted that they ask you who Jesus is, in stead you asking them, do they know Him. That’s when you know who’s re ally spending time with God and who’s not spend ing time with God, it’s because the people who are spending time with God, you never hear them say ‘do you know Jesus.’ But the people who spend time with God, you’ll sit around them long enough, you’ll end up speaking in tongues and maybe asking them what church they go See Gist on B4 RELIGION CALENDAR Thursdays and Saturdays Free Meals Christ Rescue Temple Church, 1500 North Dunleith Ave., will serve hot meals as part of the People Helping People Feeding Program. Meals will be served every Thursday and Saturday from noon until 1 p.m. at the church’s location. For more information, call 336-722- 9841. Each Sunday Worship services Green Street United Methodist Church, 639 S. Green St., Winston-Salem, invites you to join online worship services on Sundays at 11 a.m., or in-person services at 8:45 a.m. The 11 a.m. service, which is available via Facebook and YouTube, is a celebration of the diversity of the human family, a no-frills service that is thought ful, personal, and deeply spiritual. The 8:45 a.m. service is a quiet, contemplative space including prayer, scrip ture, preaching, and communion; masks and social dis tancing will be in effect in the sanctuary. Join us at www. greenstreetumc.org, on YouTube, or on Facebook. NOW Zoom services New Birth Worship Center (NBWC) in East Bend has gone virtual. Please join Dr. James L. E. Hunt, Senior Pastor on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. on Zoom webi nar. The link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84789021891 or Dial-In: 1 301 715 8592 ID Mtg. #: 84789021891. In addition, Sunday School is taught by Deacon James Henry at 9 a.m. via telephone conference call #: 1 917 900 1022 ID#: 868433#. All are welcome to join us for Zoom (virtual) Bible Study on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Our Pastor, Dr. Hunt, will be the teacher. The Zoom Link: https://us02web. zoom.us/j/89195349778 or Dial-In Mtg #: 1 301 715 8592 ID#: 89195349778#.For additional information, please call 336-699-3583 or visitwww.newbirthwor- shipcenter.org or visit our Facebook page. NOW - Nov. 13 GriefShare St. Paul United Methodist Church sponsors “Grief Share,” a support group for persons experiencing grief due to the death of a loved one. The 13 sessions feature biblical teaching on grief and recovery topics. The ses sions are designed to give encouragement and support to persons on their journey from “Mourning to Joy.” Ses sions are free; each is self-contained, meaning one does not have to attend the sessions in sequence. Seminar sessions include “Is This Normal?”, “The Challenges of Grief,” “Grief and Your Relationships,” “Why?” and “Guilt and Anger.” For information about how to par ticipate in these virtual Saturday morning GriefShare sessions, please call St. Paul UMC at 336-723-4531. Sept. 4 The Trinity Center of Winston Salem invites all fam ilies and individuals to the TTC food pantry (drive-thru style). TTC food pantry will be open on Saturday, Aug. 21, and Sept. 4, from 9:30- 11 a.m. The church is lo cated at 5307 Peters Creek Parkway. All households in need of groceries, join us every first and third Saturday for grocery pick up. In addition, please contact the ad ministrative office at (336) 784-9347 for any reschedul ing dates and cancellations. —— Aug. 29 First Waughtown Baptist Church (FWBC) Livestream Senior Pastor Dr. Dennis W. Bishop will continue The Vivid Covenant series at 10 a.m. on Sunday, August 29. The base scriptures are Genesis 1:28 (The Cultural Mandate) and Matthew 28:19-20 (The Great Commis sion). This week’s message will focus on Luke 11 and Matthew 6:9-13. The church will be observing Fam ily and Friends Day. Members are encouraged to in vite others to share in the service which can be found on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com (First Waugh town); Facebook Live, https://www.facebook.com/ FirstWaughtown/; and the First Waughtown website, https://www.firstwaughtown.org. Aug. 29 Family and Friends Day The Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church, 1905 N Jackson Ave., will be celebrating Missionary and Family and Friends Day on Sunday, Aug. 29, at our 11 a.m. worship hour as Pastor Hart will conclude his series preaching from the book of Revelations. We continue to practice safety protocols guidelines; masks are required. How to submit items to the Religion calendar: The deadline is Sunday at 11:59 p.m. to have all calendar items submitted for that week’s paper. Send your calendar items to news@wschronicle.com. You can also drop them off, Monday through Friday before 5 p.m., or mail your items to Winston-Salem Chronicle, 1300 E. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101; or send them via our website, www.wschronicle.com.
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 26, 2021, edition 1
11
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75