When you feel that life is too much...Psalm 23

Father, the cares of this life have made me anxious and fearful. Help me to understand why I should never doubt You or Your loving care for me.

The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; He leadeth me beside the still
waters.
3. He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His
name's sake.
4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no
evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.
5. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou
anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

South Africa HIV & AIDS Statistics(http://www.avert.org/safricastats.htm)

The South African Department of Health Study, 2009   
The South African National HIV Survey, 2008   

Estimated HIV prevalence (%) among South Africans aged 2 years and older, by age, 2002-2008

Age	2002	2005	2008
Children (2-14 years)	5.6	3.3	2.5
Youth (15-24 years)	9.3	10.3	8.7
Adults (25 and older)	15.5	15.6	16.8
15-49 year olds	15.6	16.92	16.9
Total (2 and older)	11.4	10.8	10.9

Estimated HIV prevalence among South Africans, by age and sex, 2008

Age	Male prevalence %	Female prevalence %
2-14	3.0	2.0
15-19	2.5	6.7
20-24	5.1	21.1
25-29	15.7	32.7
30-34	25.8	29.1
35-39	18.5	24.8
40-44	19.2	16.3
45-49	6.4	14.1
50-54	10.4	10.2
55-59	6.2	7.7
60+	3.5	1.8
Total	7.9	13.6

Among females, HIV prevalence is highest in those between 25 and 29 years old; among males, the peak is in the group aged 30-34 years.

HIV prevalence (%) by province 2002-2008

Province	2002	2005	2008
KwaZulu-Natal	11.7	16.5	15.8
Mpumalanga	14.1	15.2	15.4
Free State	14.9	12.6	12.6
North West	10.3	10.9	11.3
Gauteng	14.7	10.8	10.3
Eastern Cape	6.6	8.9	9.0
Limpopo	9.8	8.0	8.8
Northern Cape	8.4	5.4	5.9
Western Cape	10.7	1.9	3.8
National	11.4	10.8	10.9

The results of this study suggest that KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumulanga and Free State have the highest HIV prevalence. However, the relatively small sample sizes may limit precision, and in several cases the ranges of uncertainty overlap.

HIV prevalence by population group, 2008

Population group	Prevalence (%)
African	13.6
White	0.3
Coloured	1.7
Indian	0.3

http://www.avert.org/safricastats.htm

Survey lifts lid on what young people don't like about church

by Jeff Schapiro, Christian PostPosted: Thursday, September 29, 2011, 6:16 (BST)

A new research study released by the Barna Group points to six different reasons as to why young people aren't staying in their pews.

The results of this study come from the interviews of teenagers, young adults, youth pastors, senior pastors and parents that were taken over the course of five years.

First, the study says, churches appear to be overprotective. Nearly one-fourth of the 18- to 29-year-olds interviewed said “Christians demonise everything outside of the church” most of the time. Twenty-two per cent also said the church ignores real-world problems and 18 per cent said that their church was too concerned about the negative impact of movies, music and video games.

Many young adults also feel that their experience of Christianity was shallow. One-third of survey participants felt that “church is boring”. Twenty pe cent of those who attended as a teenager said that God appeared to be missing from their experience of church.

The study also found many young adults do not like the way churches appear to be against science. Over one-third of young adults said that “Christians are too confident they know all the answers” and one-fourth of them said that “Christianity is anti-science”.

Some also feel that churches are too simple or too judgmental when it comes to issues of sexuality. Seventeen per cent of young Christians say they've “made mistakes and feel judged in church because of them”. Two out of five young adult Catholics said that the church's teachings on birth control and sex are “out of date”.

The fifth reason the study gives for such an exodus from churches is many young adults struggle with the exclusivity of Christianity. Twenty-nine per cent of young Christians said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and feel they have to choose between their friends and their faith.
The last reason the study gives for young people leaving the church is they feel it is “unfriendly to those who doubt”. Over one-third of young adults said they feel like they can't ask life's most pressing questions in church and 23 per cent said they had “significant intellectual doubts” about their faith.

David Kinnaman, Barna Group president and author of the book on these findings, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church and Rethinking Church, said part of the problem may be that many churches are geared toward “traditional” young adults.

“But most young adults no longer follow the typical path of leaving home, getting and education, finding a job, getting married and having kids – all before the age of 30,” he said. “These life events are being delayed, reordered, and sometimes pushed completely off the radar among today's young adults.”

The Barna Update that highlights this study also says that today's young adults are heavily influenced by the major social, spiritual and technological changes that have occurred in the last quarter century.

Dan Smith, pastor of Momentum Christian Church in Cleveland, Ohio, told The Christian Post in an email that the six points “resonate” with him.

“I feel like part of God's calling on my life is to reach those 85 per cent (made-up stat) who want to connect with God ... but don't feel like the typical church is helping with that,” he said.

“Most of our church is made up of 20s, 30s, and 40s – younger people – because our leaders have the same mindset as some of the younger people do – we won't tolerate inauthenicity 'on stage,' trite answers, anti-scientific discussion, etc. As Scripture says, we believe that if Jesus is lifted up, young people should also be drawn to him ... so we try to lift him up in a way they can participate.”

Instead of overreacting to these statistics (by gearing churches specifically toward young people) or remaining indifferent to them, Kinnaman suggests that churches should cultivate “intergenerational relationships” within their congregations.

“In many churches, this means changing the metaphor from simply passing the baton to the next generation to a more functional, biblical picture of a body – that is, the entire community of faith, across the entire lifespan, working together to fulfil God's purposes.”