Youth in Church

At my church, the one I grew up in anyway,  they seem to have stopped caring about the youth. Don't get me wrong we've been through tough times but I feel like it has become a dying church and that term shouldn't even exist. The church has grown a lot smaller and it feels like it started as soon as they got rid of the youth programs. No more children's church or Sunday school groups by age. No more game nights, no more tambourines or coloring books. No more talking with the teenagers,  all at once it seemed to disappear and with it went the next generation of saints.

The church isn't making an effort to reach the youth anymore but the youth is the now. If we don't reach the youth now, while parents are still dragging them to church,  those are lives that could've been saved that weren't. Doesn't that hurt to think about? 

Don't assume that I am talking about all churches. I'm not. But there are too many churches out there that ignore the same people who can bring in new ideas and perspectives and reach more young people and save a generation of people. If you give the youth some task to do, they'll do it just to keep from boredom. It seems like more often than not youth from 5 to 18 are ignored and as soon as it is no longer a familial requirement to attend service they stop. They have to do something with that free time and although there are many who do good, some get bored and look for excitement somewhere else.

When we were kids most of us fell asleep listening to the preacher talk about things we didn't understand. Yet, earlier that morning we would be laughing and playing and learning about Bible stories in a way we could comprehend. Do you have any experience with dying churches? Churches that are so stuck in their ways that any new way of thinking is banned. That shouldn't happen. Churches should be filled with people of all ages. Men and women. We are supposed to go to God early in our lives but we aren't reaching those who are young. There is no God just for kids and one just for teens. But we can teach them about the one and only God through different means and techniques so that they actually comprehend it.

I have reached out to the pastor of my old church. Being a young person I know how to understand them better than a 60 year old man. Every time I brought up an idea I was shunned or ignored. I thought about bringing back children's church, or just children's Sunday School, even a Bible based game night. Nothing. It is a sad thing to see a large church practically empty, it hurts my soul. Things have to change but change is not always a bad thing, it seems that the leadership of my church feel that it is though. The youth is not the only program that was done away with but it seems to have been the most impactful. What does your church do to reach the youth?

Any tips or helpful comments?