Youth in the U-S are interested in spiritual things

USA (MNN) — According to reports, the majority of Americans describe themselves as spiritual, but not religious. In other words they’ve created some kind of religious feeling, belief or practice without going to church or another type of religious institution.

That’s presenting a challenge for the work of Young Life, an organization that’s impacting junior and senior high school students for Christ worldwide.

Young Life Staff Trainer Tom Combs says young people have a spiritual relativism that indicates they, too are searching, but society isn’t helping them. “The common phrase that I hear the adult generation saying to young people is, ‘you need to figure out what’s right for you,’ which sounds like an empowering statement, and I think young people buy into that.”

But, that’s not what the Bible says and Combs says young people need more adults telling them there are absolutes. “There are few people who are willing to take the time to enter into a relationship with young people to help them navigate their way through this giant buffet line of religious belief and spirituality to really come to the essence of what it means to be a follower of Christ.”

Young Life serves about one-million young people each year, with the goal of pointing them to the truth. “From a distance we look back at young people and say, ‘well, they’re spiritually relative, they’re morally relative,’ up close and personal when you sit down with them one-on-one and talk with them, most often you find a genuine hunger for something that’s real, something that’s true.”

The need is great for more adults of all ages to help young people find their way. Combs says as Christians sometimes are called to go to another country to preach the Gospel, adults in the U-S need to reach out in the same way. “It really does take a commitment from others outside of their world, especially adults, who are willing to say, ‘let me walk with you through those difficult decisions. Let me walk with you as you sort through what’s true and not true.'”

To find out if there’s a Young Life ministry in your area, click on the highlighted link above.