Six Reasons Young People Leave the Church
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Isolationism. One-fourth of 18- to 29-year-olds say church demonizes everything outside church, including the music, movies, culture, and technology that define their generation.
Shallowness. One-third call church boring, about one-fourth say faith is irrelevant and Bible teaching is unclear. One-fifth say God is absent from their church experience.
Anti-science. Up to one-third say the church is out of step on scientific developments and debate.
Sex. The church is perceived as simplistic and judgmental. For a fifth or more, a "just say no" philosophy is insufficient in a techno-porno world. Young Christian singles are as sexually active as their non-churched friends, and many say they feel judged.
Exclusivity. Three in 10 young people feel the church is too exclusive in this pluralistic and multi-cultural age. And the same number feel forced to choose between their faith and their friends.
Doubters. The church is not a safe place to express doubts say over one-third of young people, and one-fourth have serious doubts they'd like to discuss.
—Adapted from a list by David Kinnaman in You Lost Me: Why Young Christians are Leaving Church … and Rethinking Faith
Young Exodus
Six in 10 young people will leave the church permanently or for an extended period starting at age 15, according to new research by the Barna Group. And for the generation now coming of age, it's more than the usual "driver's license to marriage license" joy ride, according to the pollsters. For church leaders, the question is, what will we do about it?
Today's young adults are marrying later, if at all, are technologically savvy, and hold worldviews alien to their upbringing. Barna Research president David Kinnaman, after a five-year-study, declared that church leaders are unequipped to deal with this "new normal."
Their response is mostly at the extremes, both dangerous. Many ignore the situation, hoping young adults' views will be righted when they are older and have their own children. These leaders miss the significance of the shifts of the past 25 years, Kinnaman contends, and the needs for ministry young people have in their present phase—if it is a phase.
But the opposite reaction is just as problematic: "using all means possible to make their congregation appeal to teens and young adults." This excludes older members and "builds the church on the preferences of young people and not on the pursuit of God," Kinnaman said.
Kinnaman prescribes intergenerational ministry. "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 fulfill God's purposes."
Copyright © 2012 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
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Displaying 1–5 of 25 comments
Ulm
Dirk - you're talking about keeping kids in church like it's some sort of prison. This article is not just for those 'raised' at church. What about those kids who attend from non-churched backgrounds? Your plan will never attract nor reach them. If the church is only planning on surviving by trapping kids in the church, then the church is doomed.
brian
In response to Dirk.... really, are you serious? So how are we the salt and light if we avoid the world? I hear what you are saying but I do not think the gospel calls us to cloister ourselves and lock up our children. We create an us vs. them environment and from all I understand of the Bible it would seem that Jesus came to redeem everything .... to include people in the world through interacting with Jesus followers. We are to have life and that life more abundantly.... the world was created for us to use and be pleased with it. I think parents can raise Christian kids that will continue in their walk with the Lord without putting a blindfold on them and tying them to a chair.
Dirk
The reason young people leave the church is because they are raised with worldly standards and not biblical standards. If you raise the kids to be of the world, they will be. Bring back a biblical lifestyle of separation from the world in dress (head coverings, long modest dresses on woman and long pant, collared shirt on men), lifestyle changes of no socializing with the heathen secular world, no professional sports to be played or watched, no worldly entertainment permitted like TV's in the home, no attending movies or theater, no subscriptions to worldly magazines, no memberships in secular organizations, etc. and perhaps modern worldly churches will retain over 85% of their youth in the same way the ultra-conservative Christian churches do. Yes Christian, if you want to keep your kids in the church, you first have to be of Christ and not of the world. Being of Christ means shunning the ways and delights of the world. For they are of the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes.
m
its true that youngsters get bored to go to church but because of this anti christ say that they are true religion jesus said i am giving u freedom because u r my children feedom doesnt mean that we have to leave christ and follow the satan and it is our duty to follow christ
Sonny Crockett
I know personally that is denominational churches (Southern Baptist in particular) there is a "Good 'Ole Boy" network or a non-violent mafia (Goodfellas, Casino) where if you don't play the game, you get ostracized. The SBC is big in the Bible belt where I am as SBC controls who gets elected into the state senate etc. But mainly young people leave this type of church is because of the "Good 'Ole Boy" network and favoritism. Consequently young adults 18-35 have elected to worship in places like Lifechurch.TV and other "seeker sensitive" churches since the atmosphere is garnered toward a younger audience and the worship service feels more like a Foo Fighters concert with the overhead video camera and laser show. In a nut shell, young adults want to go where they are accepted for their beliefs and who that are in general and want a worship service that is fast paste and relevant biblical teaching.
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