Dan & Claire Maudhub

Are you fed up of hearing about how bad teenagers are? Published reports tell us that Britain's teenagers are the worst in Europe for under age drinking, under age sex and all sorts of other heart-wrenching statistics.

The government have to bring in all sorts of rules and regulations to try and curb young people's behaviour; but ASBOs and curfews just deal with the 'fruit' of people's lives. However, a recent, high-profile report which has been grabbing the headlines got to the root - the breakdown of the family unit. Not news to most Christians - I'm sure. So then, what can we do as the Church to show the world the solution to this problem?

Know the Father
Jesus came to restore our relationship with the Father and to bring an understanding of what it means to be a son of God and walk in living relationship with Father God. Jesus faithfully lived as a loving and obedient son to His Father whilst He was on earth and He modelled this to us. So for the church to model the family unit to the lost and to each other, we need to walk in an authentic relationship with Father God, reflecting and representing Him in every area of our lives so that others can clearly see Him in us.

Love your neighbour
In our church we have a saying 'the community we build is the window through which people see Jesus'. Jesus said people will know we are His disciples by the love we have -not for Him - but for each other. It's becoming clear that what people want is not more meetings, but authentic relationships, real friendships, proper community. Our relationship with God is like the vertical column of the cross. The horizontal bar represents our relationships with each other. These are often a lot more difficult to get right, but crucial if the church is to operate the way Jesus intended it to. This includes the vital fathering and mothering that young people so desperately need and often lack. Mature men and women must take up their God-given mandate to love, guide, affirm and give boundaries to the next generation.

The last words at the end of Malachi, before God went silent for 400 years (between the Old and New Testaments) God spoke and said He will 'restore the hearts of the children to the fathers and the fathers to the children'. God never intended that ugly, gaping generation gap which leaves our country's young people fatherless and broken, disobedient and unhappy. Let's show our nation what it's like to know the Father - and a really great family.