Knowing Your Moment In History

A major part of understanding the call of the Lord for your life has to do with understanding the moment of history into which you were born. We have to recognize the days we live in, lest we live our life oblivious to the opportunity God has given us in our present day. When entering into any type of calling, in any sphere, the proper understanding of the history of that sphere is crucial. Understanding the history knit to your calling is crucial in gaining the right perspective. 

For teenagers seeking to minister on their school campuses, there are some very important dates you should know. One is the Supreme Court decision of Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962), not only because this was the decision that removed prayer from school, but because it is a clear example of the effect that prayer (or lack-thereof) can have on our schools. It is extremely insightful to know that the removal of prayer effected the youth culture of the entire nation, from test scores to teen pregnancy - prayer made a difference.

Another reason that decision is insightful is because of all of the other court cases that immediately followed it. Why was prayer the primary battle? And why were so many other things outlawed after prayer was removed? What is it about prayer that the enemy sought to eliminate first? And if the removal of prayer sparked such a downfall, what could the return of student-led prayer spark?

Despite all of our most sincere efforts, no one has been able to "crack" the youth culture "code." We can spend so much time trying to be relevant and inclusive that we actually lose the proper perspective. While relevance and inclusiveness are important, history helps uncover what is actually relevant to our ministry. After 49 since the decision of Engel v. Vitale, youth ministry is worse than ever.

Maybe, just maybe, we need to return to the start and get some perspective on our moment in history. Maybe, we were born into this ministry for such a time as this to reverse the drought of prayer in our schools and raise up a student-led prayer movement across our nation. The harvest is ripe, but the laborers aren't praying...

School Stats

Here are just a few helpful statistics I have used to get perspective on the crisis facing this generation, even more particularly, our schools:

In the history of America, the concept of a wall between church and state is a very recent concept and was never used but twice in the history of America up until the late 1940s, but in the last 50 years there have been countless cases citing this concept. Beginning in 1962, with the removal of prayer from schools, a host of other decisions were made removing God from our generation:

- 1962: A verbal prayer offered in a school is unconstitutional, even if that prayer is both voluntary and denominationally neutral (Engel v. Vitale).

- 1965: Freedom of speech and press are guaranteed to students and teachers – unless the topic is religious, at which time such speech becomes unconstitutional (Stein v. Oshinky).

- 1965: If a student prays over his lunch, it is unconstitutional for him to pray aloud (Reed v. Van Hoven).

- 1979: It is unconstitutional for a kindergarten class to ask whose birthday is celebrated by Christmas [Jesus] (Florey v. Sioux Falls School District).

- 1980: It is unconstitutional for students to see the Ten Commandments in school because they might read, meditate upon, respect or obey them (Stone v. Graham).

- 1990: It is unconstitutional for a classroom library to contain books which deal with Christianity, or for a teacher to be seen with a personal copy of the Bible at school (Roberts v. Madigan).

- 1993: Artwork may not be displayed in schools if it depicts something religious – even if that artwork is considered a historical classic (Washegic v. Bloomingdale Public Schools).

Barna Worldview Survey from March 2009

For the purposes of the survey, a “biblical worldview” was defined as believing that absolute moral truth exists; the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic; a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today. In the research, anyone who held all of those beliefs was said to have a biblical worldview.

The research data showed that one pattern emerged loud and clear: young adults rarely possess a biblical worldview. The current study found that less than one-half of one percent of adults in the Mosaic generation – i.e., after ’84, those aged 18 to 23 – have a biblical worldview, compared to about one out of every nine older adults. 

50 Year Teacher Question

In 1940, teachers were asked to identify the top problems in public schools. They answered, “talking out of turn, chewing gum, making noise.” In 1990 teachers were asked the same question, their responses were, “drug and alcohol abuse, pregnancy, suicide, rape, robbery and assault.”

Bible-Based Believer Percentages: 

Builders (born 1927-1945) 65% Bible-based believers
Boomers (born 1946-1964) 35% Bible-based believers
Busters (born 1965-1983) 16% Bible-based believers
Bridgers (born after 1984) 4% Bible-based believers

Over 80% of churchgoers become Christian before the age of 18. Once a person reaches 20 years of age, the odds of reaching that person falls to 10%. The Southern Baptist Convention’s Family Life Council found that 88% of Christian youth fall away in college in 2002. LifeWay conducted a similar study in 2007 and found that 70% of Christian youth fall away in college, and only 35% ever return.

Engel v. Vitale

June 25th of next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision of to remove prayer from school in Engel v. Vitale (370 U.S. 421). Looking back on the history of our nation, this court decision in 1962 marks a clear turning point in our culture. Lots of people ask me about the importance of prayer in school. What are the effects? What is its significance to us today? History is perhaps the best teacher...

The issues surrounding the establishment of school-sanctioned and facilitated prayer in school centralize around the First Amendment religious freedoms given to students. A public school district in New York recited a simple, voluntary, nondenominational prayer each morning before school reading, "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and we beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers and our country. Amen."

The issue came when a group of parents contested the prayer as unconstitutional on the grounds that the government cannot establish a religion based on the belief system of the majority - that this prayer imposed on their freedom of religion as atheists and non-believers. while the validity of their case was largely debated and ultimately favored, student-led prayer remained possible.

This court decision actually did much more than many people realized. There is something significant about how the laws of the land act as a statement before heaven, and heaven sees the laws and grieves the gradual decay of the generation.

Where the story really begins to unfold is in the years immediately following this decision. Once this decision was made, and the legal principal was established, everything changed. The removal of prayer from school was the decision that served as the tipping point for countless other cases. Soon after 1962, other decision were made further removing God from our schools, including the removal of the ten commandments from display in public schools.

Not only were more court decision made, but the youth culture drastically changed. Starting in 1963, there was a rapid acceleration in the rate of teen violence cases, teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among teens, and even the family unite in America began to decay more rapidly as national divorce rates actually began to rise. Academics also showed signs of change. The steady national average SAT score fell sharply between 1963 and 1964 and national academics also began to decline. 

In short, there was a clear shift in the history of America related to the removal of prayer from schools. This raises the question, if the removal of prayer can have such  drastic negative effect on our youth, what could the return of prayer (through student-led gatherings) accomplish in our nation? Could we see the divorce rate recover? Could we see teen pregnancy recover? Could we see teen drug use and violence begin to fall? Could we even see national test scores begin to rise?

More than any of that, could we begin to see the ever growing percentage of unsaved teens begin to receive salvation and exalt Jesus? It is said that over 80% of people who get saved do so before the age of 18, and over 80% of those fall away in college. At this rate, less than 4% of this young generation are actually showing solid church involvement, and less than 1/2 of a percent actually have a clear Biblical worldview. An entire generation is going to hell on our watch, youth ministry in America is broken, but what if the prayers of the saints turned heaven's gaze as in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

What if?

As Supreme Court Justice Stewart dissented, 

I think that to deny the wish of these school children to join in reciting this prayer is to deny them the opportunity of sharing in the spiritual heritage of our Nation. (http://vftonline.org/EndTheWall/Engel-Stewart.htm)