You have to reach them at their level. I am sorry but that is true. Those kids that are caught up and wrapped so tight in the secular world have to have someone to identify with. Heck, there are even some that have been brought up in churches that can't identify because they still don't feel accepted.
No one is saying that the kids must compromise. But, in order to get the message to them you have to be able to push through the other garbage thrown in their faces nowdays and get it to them in ways that they can relate to and understand.
Iamthisclose to pounding my head against the wall. : )
Maybe pregnancy and drug use is up because they live in a culture that glorifies drug use and premarital sex, and because parents don't keep control over what their kids get involved in. People have always craved acceptance. Even when I was a kid. That's nothing new.
And it's not that the church is trying to push it's way through the garbage and reach children. It's that the church is trying to often emulate the garbage so as to fool them into accepting it.
Salvation is about understanding one's need for a savior. Acceptance that Jesus is that savior. And acceptance of that salvation. (unless your a hardcore calvinist... then it's just about being chosen). But you just can't find a single biblical reference where it says "the apostles / early christians / followers etal" examined creative ways to soften the gospel and make it more appealing to the world. When you consider what being a believer ment back then (often a dinner date with lyons or someone throwing rocks).... it's just difficult to believe that the cause of christ can only be advanced if we make the gospel appealing in a worldly sense.