Lydia Ingegneri – Give Children an Opportunity at a Young Age to Rise Up

We don’t talk about it enough, because it’s uncomfortable, but too many people are leaving the church after college. Lydia has some great advice in this Worship Sound Bite on how to combat that. Lydia is a mad talented worship leader. She’s also a mom, a ministry leader, and she’s passionate about introducing children to Jesus.

We as a Church are afraid to face the fact that the youth are leaving our faith communities once they leave for college. What does that say about how we are raising up our children? What does that say about our institutions of higher learning? Have our colleges become overrun with God-hating atheists? Comment below if you have left the church post-college and why or if you’ve seen your child leave so we can pray for them to see the truth and come back to their roots and their faith.

More about Lydia Ingegneri

Transcription

What I feel about this next generation of leaders is that they- Statistically, once you graduate, you’re leaving the church. Even if you were raised in the church, mostly that is due to young people not given ownership within the church to lead, to use their gifts. I think what has been the typical thing within church is that, well, you have to be in college to be able to serve or you have to be an adult to be able to do this or to do that.

When there are pre-teens and teenagers who are sitting there oozing with anointing and talent and ability, but they’re not given that opportunity. And so, I think for the “now” generation, for this next generation of leaders coming up that are in their teens, I think it’s really important that we include them, that we offer them opportunities, and that we, as the older generation, are willing to mentor and give space to them.

Because I want to see this next generation stay in the church. I want to see them want to be in the church when they’re 30, 40, 50, 60 years old. And I think the key to that is giving them ownership, is giving them value and giving them something to steward at an early age. Let’s give them everything we’ve got and let’s also give them an opportunity at a young age to rise up and begin using their gifts in the church as early as possible.