5 Ways Nigerian Churches Drive Youths Away

Anyone that has had to take care of teenagers or young
people in general knows that it is a very tedious task that
requires patience and understanding. If a parent or guardian
can’t relate to young people in terms of the prevalent youth
culture at the time, the parent/guardian would face a great
deal of frustration in directing most youths towards a moral
path in life. What compounds this issue is that the internet
and modern mass media have given young people so much
information and opportunities such that parent/guardians
can not keep up with their (the youth) thinking.
This is also a problem for many churches as they are not
keeping up with the needs of the youth of today. To lose the
interest of the youth is to lose the future of the church and
below, are five ways churches of today in Nigeria tend to
drive these youths away from the house of God-
1) Ageism (adultism) and disrespect towards younger
people by church staff
From experience, I can say comfortably that Nigerian culture
permeates Nigerian churches, and deeply rooted within
Nigerian culture is adultocracy, in which the respect of the
elderly and adults are prioritised sometimes at the expense
of the youth. For instance, when waiting to see a pastor or
reverend father, young people are made to wait for long
periods with no information while an elderly person would be
given a swift service- the older person would be told how
long he or she is to wait and also be told about the
whereabouts of the pastor/priest.
Another instance is where ushers in the church shout at
younger people when directing them to seat or move in the
church hall but will be calm when they are directing older
people. I have even seen it twice where a church staff
member was shouting and embarrassing a teenage couple
about "fornication" just because the couple were flirting in
the church premises after the church service.
As someone that has been to many churches of different
denominations with various friends in those different
churches, I can say that such behaviour is endemic and it
needs to be changed. Young people too have rights and
feelings. The discriminatory treatment turns the youth off
from coming to church.
2) Lack of relevant preaching to youths
Youth problems are far beyond "respect your parents and
teachers". There are important moral issues facing the youth
such as; sex, porn addiction, on the internet, bullying at
school, abuse from adults, anti-social behaviours and so on.
This is where churches need a good youth pastor who can
relate to such youth problems.
Many churches prefer to speak against pre-marital sex to
teens and young people but they forget that the young
people are more interested in how to approach the opposite
sex or the person that they have a crush on. A good youth
preacher would explain to the youth how to create a God-
fearing relationship with their close friends or partners,
rather than just spouting the usual anti-pre-marital sex
doctrine. Also, when preaching to youth, Nigerian churches
fail to use terms that the young people will understand. For
instance, using a young musician like Wizkid to explain the
problems with a materialistic life would be more relevant to
youth than explaining it with plain theology.
3) Lack of youth programmes
Many churches have little or no youth programmes that
would interest the young people in the church. Even the ones
that do have very boring programmes- they consider "choir
and drama" to be everything young people need. Personally,
I never could sing or act as a youth and so, I didn't really
enjoy the youth programme in my church. There are other
things that could engage the interest of the youth in church
such as trips to religious sites/places and creative classes.
Some churches have good youth programmes, I know of a
few that have football matches among their youth,which is
also a good idea.
4) Refusal to deal with "internet questions"
There are a lot of facts and also nonsense on the internet. It
is inevitable that young people will pick up strange things on
the internet and will want clarification on such things. For
instance, I remember a teenager asking a pastor about the
Church of England's acceptance of gay priests- the pastor
just concluded that the issue is beyond the teen's
understanding. The teenager probably read it on the internet
and was wondering if it was possible on the internet. The
issue here is that pastors or priests should be ready for such
controversial questions from the youth as they have curious
minds at that age and are still learning. Dismissing their
questions will only drive them to find questions elsewhere.
Furthermore, not answering religious questions that pertain
to the church makes it seem as if the church has something
to hide.
5) Resistance to technology
Some churches frown upon the use of Ipads or tablets to
read bible passages. Some churches that have multi-million
dollar buildings prefer to use televisions to broadcast
educational material to youth members instead of multi-
functional projectors. Some churches do not have a
functional website that provides information on church
activities. Times are changing and churches need to adapt.
The youth are becoming more dependent on technology and
there is a need to engage them on that level.