New Study: Young Adults Leave the Church between 18 and 22.
According to LifeWay Research, two-thirds of young adults who regularly attend church stop attending between the ages of 18 and 22. First off, they had to do a study to figure that out?
I found a link to that article today at the NAMB Center For Missional Research. It reminded me of a conversation I had this past weekend on a related topic. I was talking with a local youth pastor about his youth group (my son attends — he is the only middle schooler at our church). We were talking about how different his group is than many others in town. His Wednesday night event centers around Bible study. They are currently working their way through Romans. Most of the youth groups seem to focus on entertaining kids, and throwing in a quick devotional to “sanctify” the evening’s event. The entertainment model was what I saw at several churches when I was in high school (and even college).
I asked the youth pastor about how many kids he stays in contact with that have gone to college. Of the 12 or so who have graduated in the past two years, only 1 is not actively involved in a church or campus ministry. Granted his group is only 40 - 60 students, and is not a mega-program that gets a lot of buzz. But, he has chosen the goal of molding the lives that are in his group over the goal of attracting a big crowd.
I think that the reason so many youth leave the church is that in high school, church is a good source of entertainment. Once they “age out” of the youth group, there are many other sources of entertainment out there. If the youth group focuses on spiritual formation, then perhaps the concept of pursuing the knowledge of God is more embedded in their lives, and they are less likely to walk away from the church?
Any thoughts?
Could it be that the truth is that the “church” you have referred to has become irrelevant? Possible we have we reached a place in history when we can finally break free of the confines of the hate that brought us the attacks of 9/11 and your youth see and embrace the same? A departure from the Jihad that those who must believe in an Allah, or those who don’t and believe in a different “God” causes some to be right, some to be saved, some to be damned, others to be evil that must be destroyed, still others who can’t abide by the damned among us all? Is the state of the world nothing more than we saw centuries ago with Inquisitions, Holy Churches, Differing Prophesies, Pagan Rituals, and warring political factions dressed up as the champions of the same, or just the simple people who want to actually experience love, true friendship and community and share it with others. Perhaps, the departure from your “church” is nothing more than a search for something more than it has preached or ever given them? Why do you think your children can only listen to entertainment? Maybe it is because your lessons in life, are lessons in hate, judgment, or a dismal view of a future for the world they live in. If they really were filled with love, joy, acceptance of themselves and a hope for the future from how you raised them, would they ever really leave the same? That might be a gospel and an environment no one would want to leave, but expand to the rest of the world around. A mission that caused people to not destroy or hurt, but rather something that advanced the human race.
Interesting, I won’t drop out of Church and being a Christian so easily though. Rest easy, for now. Mwa ha ha!
-JM
Tom -
Ok, you have several points here, I think.
1. Can the church have become irrelevant/are youth breaking from from confines of hate?
First off, I guess that depends on how you define church. Are their churches that have become irrelevant, or that teach intolernace and hatred, sure. But that is not the issue that I am talking about. I think it overly broad to suggest that all churches fit into those categories. Even if they do, there is the bigger issue of truth and faith. For me, the bigger issue than the relevance of a church is whether their claims are true. If Jesus is indeed the Christ, and was raised from the dead, then teh goal needs to be to embrace that, while casting off the wrong teachings that churches put on top of the truth. But that really is as subject for a different post - Is Christianity true. I doubt that we would really ever resolve that issue in a blog coversation.
2. The tone of your comment suggests that you have a lot of hostility to the institution of the church. I hope that it doesn’t cloud your analysis of the truth-claims of Christ.
3. Are they looking for something “mroe than what they has been preached to them?”
Well that is part of the point of my post. If all they ever hear as youth is a watered down faith with no substance or ability to withstand challenges, then there is nothing that they can hang on to later in life, and that is part of why they leave. If the only point for them to go to church is to have fun with friends, once they get to college they have plenty of other opportunities for that outside of church, and there is not point in them going to church.
4. I hope you don’t think that my faith is one of hate, judgment, and a dismal view of the future world. I don’t think it is. Is that your view of Christianity? That it is hatred, judgment and pessimism?
On the flip side, does the tone of your comment suggest hatred and judgment of Christians? I don’t think of you as someone who is hateful and judgmental. I would hope that you don’t think of me in those terms.
Thanks for the comments. They have been thought-provoking, which is why it has taken me some time to respond. I will keep thinking about it.
JM -
Glad to hear that you are not planning to head out the church any time soon. However, I hope that it is because you see yourself being tranformed by God, and not that you are planning to hang around to keep your mom and dad happy. The point of this whole thing is that there is truth, that the truth can tranform you, and that there is call to respond to the truth.