The McEuen Family

Cross Cultural Witnesses to Peru Jirn San Jos 230, Urb San Carlos Huancayo, Per opencircleperu@gmail.com http://opencircleperu.weebly.com
January 2013 Recently I read a statistic that is really sad. According to research done by Dr. Jorge Gomez, of every five young people in the church, three will leave. That is to say, sixty percent of the young people who have faith (strong or nominal) will abandon the faith as they grow into adulthood. If you have a youth group with fifty kids every week, his research says, expect thirty to walk away and not look back. That is really quite depressing to read. My heart hurts thinking about the young people we work with. There is so much potential in them, but we as the mature body of Christ (and Im talking about all of us here) are pushing them away. Yeah, that was what I wanted to say. It is we who are pushing them away by the things we say that don`t line up with how we act. We are pushing them away by talking about Freedom in Christ and then giving them a list of all the things they can`t do if they want to have this freedom. We push them away by not painting a picture of a Jesus they can really, honestly get to know as a friend, and not just as a distant idea or concept way too holy for us to even think about approaching. We push them away and then we blame them for leaving. It hurts my heart. I feel nauseas. I feel like screaming, like crying, like running away and not stopping because I am so angry with the way things are. Im angry with the organized church wanting to beat their chests and look down their noses. Im angry with the leaders abandoning their people in the dark back row seats of the auditorium while they go and find the best seats with the important people. Im angry with watered down faith and lack of love for the word of God that can change lives. I`m angry that religion is so much more important than faith. A few months ago during morning devotion, I found a verse that really spoke to the way I feel. For the first time, I could really relate to Paul. Paul said, (and I`m translating from the Spanish versionI dont know what it is in English): My heart hurts, but we always have joy (2 Corinthians 6.10). Working with the young people in the valley here high in the Andes Mountains is very rewarding, but our hearts hurt at the struggles they have. There is a spiritual darkness here in the mountains. The sun shines and the birds sing, but raging in the bright light of day is a spiritual battle for the hearts and souls and bodies of the young people. Drinking and drug abuse is common. Kids are invited to parties with open bars and few restrictions. Half naked and naked women adorn

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posters and calendars to supposedly entice people to make large, plastic posters or to have their cars washed, but what they really do is objectify women (a justice issue) and tempt younger and younger people into sexual impurity. Internet is here as well, and as good as it can be, it has also led many people down the dark paths of addiction. Our hearts hurt. But we still have joy. We want to share so many stories with you, but the truth is, we can`t. We need to respect the kids we are working with and not show them off as prizes. But God is doing some really neat things here. Not as many as we would like, perhaps, but we are seeing progress. Working with young people is always a process of three steps forward and two steps back. Some things are small and might seem insignificant, but if, for example, a teen decides against going to a party because God might not want him there, that`s a success (and it has happened). But then there are the kids who planned and organized a Christmas party for some poor kids in one of the small towns about 45 minutes away. They advertized, made posters, went door to door, gathered gifts and bread and hot chocolate (a tradition here for Christmas). Then on a cold, rainy (and very muddy) day, shared Christmas with about sixty kids. That, too, is a success. Chatting with one teenager for an hour or so and talking about the potential he has for his life, he wrote: No one has ever been this nice to me. That is a step forward. Later he asked me: Does your family ever fight? You are all always so happy. That is a step forward, too. Then there is the student who wrote: Professor, thank you for your advice. I sincerely thank you a ton, because without your help, I would be very bad. I dont know what I would do without you. You are a great person. That (especially coming from a 13 year old) is a big step. We dont have big numbers of confessions of faith because of a rally or event. But we are seeing lives changed. And that is why we are here. We are here so that maybe God could use us so that people could see God better. God is here, we know that. But we still get angry. We still get frustrated. Why? Because the powers of evil are here as well, and they are fighting a hard fight. But we are not going to let them win. We believe God wants us to be here. We have seen lives being changed. Please pray for us and with us, so that especially through the lives of young people, the sun will not be the only light shining. Pray that Gods love will shine brighter and brighter every day. Please pray that not a single young person will walk away from the faith.