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If you discovered about half of the students in your church's youth ministry were going to walk away from Christ after entering college, would you do something about it? I hope so. That's not a very good retention rate.
But whatpercentage of Christian youth are actually leaving the church? There’sbeen some debate about the actual number, with some saying as little as 4% will remain Christian, while others suggest there’s virtually no exodus. Christian Smith tells us that evangelicals have been "behaving badly with statistics"and quickly dispenses with the 4% "panic-attack" stats. But can weget some idea of the percentage of youth leaving the church withoutbeing irresponsible with numbers?
These are the most recent and most cited studies that I could find:
- 88%: The Southern Baptist Convention's Family Life Council study in 2002 (unfortunately, I can't find the actual study and methodology)
- 70%: LifeWay Research study in 2007 (LifeWay also found only 35% eventually return)
- 66%: Assembly of God study (again, I can't find the actual study, only references here and there)
- 61%: "Barna study in 2006 -- "Most Twentysomethings Put Christianity on the Shelf..."
The LifeWay and Barna studies include research details. I’m no sociologist but from what I can tell, their methodology seems sounds.
Here are some related studies:
- "Spirituality in Higher Education": The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found that 52% of college students reported frequent church attendance the year before they entered college but only 29% continued frequent church attendance by their junior year.
- College Transition Project: The Fuller Youth Institute's current data seems "to suggest that about 40-50% of students in youth groups struggle in their faith after graduation."
- "The Religiosity Cycle": A 2002 Gallup Poll study found that church attendance “drops during the teen and young adult years.”
Conclusion: It's safe to conclude the church is losing a signficant portion of itsyoung people for some period of time. Even if we take Barna's lowernumbers and then cut 10% off to be extra conservative, we're stilltalking about losing half of our young people.
Is that acceptable? And if not, why are we losing them and what needs to be done?
Comments
is it because the church has little offer?
when life gets tough, when the rubber hits the road..often times post high school...the church seems like a social club.
the church is unwilling to:
talk about sex
talk about homosexuality
talk about divorce
talk about porn
talk about war/peace (except from one side)
when that is what the kids are being bombarded with and dealing with.
why stick around when out of touch pastors and preaching about tithing when Mom is an alcholic and Dads got a girl on the side.
why go when honest comments are not heard?
what church could a kid walk into a say " I MIGHT BE GAY." or "I LOVE PORN"
or "MY DAD BEATS ME" or "I GET HIGH, IN FACT I DID JUST BEFORE I CAME" with out derision and shame?
The church is not providing help, so let them leave.
maybe they can find God outside of buildings and people that push them away.
maybe one is sitting next to me in the coffee shop, a place of God.
I totally get it, Jake. Even so, I also know of dozens of churches that are the kind of honest, gritty places that would embrace the kind of kids you mentioned.
It's kind of like relationships: if you meet a couple of losers, you think the entire gene pool is tainted. But thank God not all churches are stunted and out of touch. Since Jesus transcends church flaws, I'm convinced he can reach people wherever they are, despite the hypocrisy of his self-proclaimed spokesmen.
I love that on this website alone, the communicators here are nuanced, committed Christians talking freely about the very topics you mentioned, and most of us belong to healthy churches who are reaching people with an unchanging message of hope. Thanks for the good reminder to love.
what church could a kid walk into a say " I MIGHT BE GAY." or "I LOVE PORN"
or "MY DAD BEATS ME" or "I GET HIGH, IN FACT I DID JUST BEFORE I CAME" with out derision and shame?
I actually think you will find there are plenty of churches, and more importantly plenty of priests that one could walk in without judgement , but as for him feeling shame as he went in, well that's his own consciousness imo.
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When we look at all the sins and tragedies in the world, it's easy to blame the church for lack of teaching and guidance over the youths' spiritual lives. But we need to remember that the parents need to be just as involved in their lives as the Church.
Plus, with the busyness of kids today, church usually takes a back seat, not because the church doesn't have enough going on, mind you. Some I've butted heads with are:
1) Schools give out grades, churches don't/can't, and students have grown up learning that grades take front seat to their future, or if it doesn't grade, it can't be that important.
2) After-school events (sports, clubs, etc.) promote the chance of getting a scholarship for college...attending an after-school Bible study doesn't.
And so one of the main struggles of the church is convincing youth (and parents) though these may be good for their kids' future careers and educations, such is just temporary, and their realationship with Jesus is what's most important.
Example: I used to teach martial arts. A father signed up his ADHD son, hoping we'll pound some discipline into him. But he only brought him by for 1 hour, once a week (and he sometimes missed a week), even though there were classes all week long. And his lack of advancement showed that he also didn't practice at home anything that he'd learned in class. One day, the father invited me over to the house. While there, his son was a terror! He'd hit his younger sister, throw things, write on the walls, etc., and his only means of discipline was a calm-sounding, "Son, please don't do that," or "son, I wish you wouldn't do that." So then a few months down the line, the father complains to me about how disappointed he is that though his son's taking classes there, he wasn't becoming better behaved.
Do you see the problem here? In the same manner, youth come to church for youth events maybe 1-2 times a week, even if the church has something for them all week. In fact, I've experienced parents becoming upset with their kids for spending too much time at the church (seriously!). So in the same manner, if the parents aren't participating in their youths' spiritual lives, and the youths aren't disciplining themselves spiritually (praying, reading the Bible, journaling, behavior, etc.) then the only time they're getting a dose of God is when they're at church, which we already established was rarely being visited.
And I believe that's one of the points of this blog: youth are not digging their roots down into the good soil, but instead falling along the path, thorns, and rocky ground. So when they get to college, some get trampled on and eaten by birds, some stray from the Living Water and thus dry up, and some get choked by the weeds and thorns growing around them. And the shame being pointed out is not only the minimal number of those who actually fell among the good soil, dug their roots deep, and produced a hundredfold of fruit, but the fact that the numbers of plentiful crops continue to fall.
And the point of this parable isn't that the Church (or God) didn't do their job, but how those who received the Word responded to it or held onto it in the face of (in relation to this blog) trials, new experiences, and temptations in the world, which is also the point I'm getting from the blog (and many others like it).
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These statistics are understandable ... All I have to do is look on facebook to see all of my once 'Christian highschool school buds', deep into alcohol, drugs and sexual promiscuity. chat
In my 30+ year relationship with God I have seen way too many young people walk away from the church and put their relationship with God on the shelf. Way too little find their way back. It is time we stop the bleeding. It is my experience that most people (young and old) walk away from church because of 1) being hurt by someone in the church, 2) hanging around the wrong crowd. There are other reasons but these the two main reasons in my observation.
It is true church is not a building. In fact going to church will make you a Christian about as much as going to McDonald's will make you a hamburger. Don't get me wrong it is VERY important. There is a reason the Bible says in Hebrews 10 to "forsake not the assembling of yourselves together".
Why do we as "The Army Of God" insist on killing our wounded and creating more casualties? I have seen way too many people over the years walk away from church because someone said something careless or even hurtful. It is time for us to get the heart and mind of Jesus and "Live a life of love." (Ephesians 5:2) Sometimes it only takes keeping your mouth shut even if you have to bite your lip and swallow your pride. That includes our children. There is a reason the Bible says not to embitter our children (Colossians 4:21).
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”- Luke 11:13
No wonder , people are leaving the church , its hateful bigots like you that make life difficult for other people. You people should find a REAL Life.
"its hateful bigots like you" - Does anybody else see the problem here? Bigot defined - a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions or prejudices
I honestly feel like you (jake dockter) are stating facts that are stereotypical and unfair.
I am a high school junior, and my youth pastor is NOT "out of touch."
And (after being the youth pastor at my church for a little less than 2 years) he has covered topics like homosexuality, sex, struggling with porn, and about family issues-mentioning divorce.
Not all churches are like what you have stated!
A kid could walk in saying ALL of those things (even at once!) to countless churches today and the pastors would almost definitely know how to respond. It's not about the church's inability to cope with these issues, it's about the individuals willingness to get help if they truly want to change and need it...
Its not about church,what you say its start from the family,how many times have we see the same think,people that they use to go to the church with the kids every week is more easier,of course i agree with the gay matter and all but you are very negative in your comment. forex signals
I know many churches that would embrace anyone who comes for help. If they come to be accepted without any desire to change they will not be happy. If the church allows sin it is it self in sin. It is how you go about dealing with a person sin that is important since we all are sinners and all sin is alike, James 2:10, we should address others as we would like to be addressed.
Your talking as if you know about all the churchs around, your comments are not true in my small group all those topics are weekly conversations, we have church wide conversations on porn and homosexuality and answers to all the questions asked about those topics
Jake, i know you posted this a long time ago......if i had to wait until i was 'perfect' to go to church i would never have gone. i will never be perfect in anyones eyes except God's. When i finally realized that church was not my solution, God was my solution, and that church was one of many places to hear more about God's word, my life changed. My relationship with God is not through the church. it is between me and God. Doesn't matter what other people who claim to be Christians are doing. It matters what i am doing to further my relationship with God and to learn more about what it is He intends ME to do. My closest moments to God are when i am working in halfway houses with alcoholic women, in the grocery aisles where i see a stranger hurting and touch their arm to let them know they are not alone, when i'm in the car with my daughter and we have those spontaeous deep converstations, when i'm in the depths of Mexico working in an orphanage. God is where i am, no matter where i am.
You are loved, just as you are. Always.
Its not about church,what you say its start from the family,how many times have we see the same think,people that they use to go to the church with the kids every week is more easier,of course i agree with the gay matter and all but you are very negative in your commen
Brett raises an interesting question. What is an acceptable attrition rate? Do you think that God settled upon an acceptable figure for the number of souls that would be tormented in hell for all of eternity, due in part to youth pastors dropping the ball?
These statistics are understandable ... All I have to do is look on facebook to see all of my once 'Christian highschool school buds', deep into alcohol, drugs and sexual promiscuity.
hmmmm...And I believe that's one of the points of this blog: youth are not digging their roots down into the good soil, but instead falling along the path, thorns, and rocky ground. peeling skin So when they get to college, some get trampled on and eaten by birds, some stray from the Living Water and thus dry up, and some get choked by the weeds and thorns growing around them. skin pores And the shame being pointed out is not only the minimal number of those who actually fell among the good soil, dug their roots deep, and produced a hundredfold of fruit, orange skin but the fact that the numbers of plentiful crops continue to fall.
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Thanks man
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Someone has described the typical youth group in the US as "holding tanks with pizza." There's nothing wrong with fun, but at some point we need to get serious and deal with complex questions. Many youth groups have food fights after the football game, go to camp in the summer, then send them off to college. Once at college, two things happen: 1) there's no old folks around to get them to church, plus a lot of sex, drugs, and fun tempting them every day, and 2) they get hit with questions from every direction: atheist professors, student clubs that have the muslim society, the buddhists, the Ayn Rand student group, and hundred others.
Our group is trying to do what we can to specifically contradict this. See Ratio Christi on the web: www.ratiochristi.org.
Thanks for putting together this source of information. I'm a youth minister, and i'm doing a couple of lessons this week. My audience is made up of christians going into their senior year and those going into their freshman year of college. It is quite shocking to see the numbers. 50% !! So now what? What do we do to remedy the situation? How does someone like me fix this?
The christian right fundamentals of the church are terrible. I can see why so many people are leaving the church , and heading into other spiritualities and atheism. The topics of abortion , sex, homosexuality , divorce , are all topics that are all gaining more and more acceptance among young people today. WE will not leave these topics in the dark , why is it a bad thing to have pre-marital sex, or be gay .Their all perfectly FINE things to be doing , the horrible hate of the chrisdtian Right , is terrible and it must STOP NOW. My heart goes out to all the teens that have commited suicide over the fact that they were gay , with all the homophobia. We must eliimintate this hate , as adults , mature a little and let people live there lives.
I could not agree more. As a college kid that is the number one thing I struggle with. I am turned off by the hate that seems to be coming from the church. In all honesty I think Jesus would be a little less than pleased with what his people are doing. If his people were really showing love, they would not try to change people but build a relationship with others and love them regardless. 1 Cor 13 is how I see things. Yes, there is love out there, but I think a lot of the love is clouded by the hate and intolerance.
Jesus loves everyone: True. Christians should love everyone: True. Watching someone make bad choices that are truly contradictory to what God wants from their lives and watching them destroy their lives for the sake of tolerance is love: Not true. I have a 2 year old daughter now. If she were to walk toward the street in front of our house...and I saw a car coming...it would be completely UNLOVING of me to let her walk into the street if I could have stopped her!
There is a difference between loving someone who sins and not saying something to them because of tolerance. If I know someone has a problem with alcohol and I don't say anything to them because I have to 'love' them and let them live their life...that is the anti-thesis of the love Jesus showed. He showed them a better way and told every sinner He came in contact with to "leave their life of sin" after He helped them. I think we see jesus as loving people and leaving them alone. Most of the people He helped and told to leave that life He never came into contact with before. He had no inherent relationship with them.
Love people: Yes. It's the second greatest commandment according to Jesus Himself. Let them wallow in their lifestyle in the name of 'love': not at all how a Christian should respond.
Admittedly, there is WAY too much hate amongst Christians toward ANYONE who has the slightest propensity for ANY sin...especially homosexuality, drunkenness and promiscuity of any kind...but not ALL Christians are like that. So...we need to look to Jesus' example for how we respond to respond. In TRUTH and LOVE.
Great discussions so far! Great reading!
i would say the youth has no ideea how to be christian these days. the bible illiteracy is horrible high these days among youth. no matter how much a preacher has to teach in a sunday morning ultimatelly the individual has to pick up his or her own bible and read it. to most youth today christianity is raised hands to a worship song. thats all. it is wrong to let youth to "experiment" with sin. what do we think they will discover at the end? what other conclusion is there to draw after you go have sex with others do drugs and get drunk? isnt this what the world does.? therefore is good that church does not condone any of these things. we bent the rules too much for the sake of dissobedient. how much is enough. should we accept porn, homosexuality, drunkedness,? isnt exactly these things that we were called not to practice? at the church i attend about 35 percent dont show up nomore since the pastor started preaching against sin. it makes u think....
This is the reason why I don't go to church often. I was taught to love thy neighbor and treat everyone like you would want to be treated. But this is not the message that I get from many churches. bible lesson plans
today,s christianity is all about ME! what do i get out of it? how about me ? i need this i need that... nobody loves me... this is what I think... everybody wants to hear pleasant things about themselves; like how good they are, how happy they can be... as if we are some deserving creatures and things need to be handed to us on a silver platter. in this country we are so pampered, we dont even compare with christians from other countries who are persecuted daily. My bible says that after we do everything that the word of God tells us to do we are still unworthy servants. if i leave a church cause the pastor does not talk to me, or another preacher said something that remotedly hinted about my bad behaviour i am on the wrong side of christianity. it means someone cares enough for me to pinpoint my failing parts in my life. all i have to do is improve in that area of my life. thats how you grow in Christ. we forget that christianity is a fight against our fleshly desires. that,s how we pick up our cross and follow Jesus.
Yep, you got it. There's this little issue of "commandments" that don't get much emphasis in church anymore.
I once helped teach Sunday school as a volunteer for a year and a half. It was a wonderful assembly that actually contained a free dental clinic for street people and transients. Our family just loved them all to bits. But no sooner would I get the childrens' attention long enough to talk about the Biblical principle in the lesson, than the first of the parents were upstairs to get their kids. They had neat crafts with Jesus or Noah's Ark to put on the fridge, but Bible instruction never got off the ground. In my last class, one redheaded 11-year-old told me he didn't believe in God, his Grandma just made him come to church. I no sooner got started talking to him about it then here comes Grandma to pick him up.
The parents wanted to get out before the rush so they could be at the buffet before all the other churches got out. Or there was a hockey game. Or they had to mow the lawn. The level of Bible instruction for adults was pretty shallow too. A high proportion of divorce, usually instituted by the wife (never mind the New Testament, let alone the Law).
The proportion of the young, particularly teens, getting involved in the same junk as everybody else was very high. Their parents looked the other way or just thought it was normal youthful rebellion. But these kids played in the worship band, were counsellors at summer camp, all that stuff. I guess as long as your Heavy Metal band had cross tattoos instead of pentagram tattoos, it was OK.
My view is, if we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we shouldn't be eating what God says is abominable, we shouldn't be participating in events not approved by Scripture and we certainly shouldn't be adorning ourselves with permanent graffiti. Jesus' opinion of lawlessness is pretty clear, Calling such views "legalism" is a red herring because obedience is EVIDENCE of faith. (I'll show you my faith by my works, James said.) Disobedience is somehow evidence of freedom under grace now. It won't fly, folks. God doesn't change. The longer Christians delay repentance, the harder the jolt when they do turn back. Being "holy" means "set-apart". Faith in Christ is how God sets you apart; obedience to the commandments is how you set yourself apart. If you're comfortable in your faith, you're probably nowhere near where you need to be.
The Gospel of the Kingdom is simply this: "Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand." You enter it through the strait gate (Jesus/faith) and you walk the narrow way (the Law/works). Faith is a VERB, it's something you have to DO. Judgment begins at the House of God, and the world stealing our children is judgment. You seriously think God has no hand in this exodus?
God will heal our land when we repent. If we don't repent, He will not heal our land. He doesn't change, and Jesus said we need to fear Him. The Messiah was an observant Jewish rabbi, not the 4th Bee Gee with a golden frisbee floating over his head. That picture is a pagan fabrication and needs to go.
P.S. Please don't misunderstand me, it's not like I do it all perfectly either. Faith in the Blood is the price of admission, not performance. Thank almighty Yahweh for His mercy! But whosever turns his ear away from the Law, even his prayer is an abomination. And talk about obedience is a SHOW-STOPPER in every church I've ever attended.
12,000 denominations, folks. Something is wrong with this picture. God is not the author of confusion.
Love you, brethren.
This is it, a few people in a population of millions and millions painting with a very wide brush. The church is this, the church is that. It is very easy to sit behind a keyboard and have all the answers and interpretations - we can thank Adam and Eve for that knowledge.
However, if we want our babies to go to preschool, then off to Sunday school and into a teen program geared just for them and still not fall out of love with "church" and further with Jesus, we had better get real. Stop debating and analyzing and start living faith, the kind of faith that crosses boundaries of good and acceptable to reach the broken and unloved. To be among but not apart of the problem, and to include and teach our children how to do the same. Lets look at Youth Ministries as Youth Developing Their Ministry; with mentor-ship and not segregation.
Different churches have different gifts, so lets quit complaining - not everyone can be the right hand, it doesn't move without an arm or a shoulder.
So we grow where we are planted, become a great oak to shelter the young saplings until they are strong enough and their roots grow deep and intertwine with ours, all reaching for the living waters. They won't be easily uprooted.
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I think it really depends where the youth are living and what they are doing.
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The paradigm is backwards and needs a complete shift. As a former youth pastor, I know this song and dance all too well. Youth ministry (YM) has become a 40+ yr failed experiment with a 75-88% failure rate. The church needs to focus on the men of the families and equip them to evangelize and disciple their kids. When a male head is not there, then older, godly men of the church should come alongside in a mentoring role. While I find scripture to support the idea of parents being responsible and commanded to disciple and evangelize their kids, Deut. 6:1-10, Eph. 5:15-6:4 to name a couple, I have yet to find book, chapter and verse for this tragedy called youth ministry. The big push now is that churches are getting "serious" and they want to "reform YM".... Slight problem... To "reform" something is to take it back to it's Biblical roots. YM has none.
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Amen to that! Parents can't lay the blame on church or ministers. God places men as heads of their household and holds them responsible for their family's spiritual welfare. Taking them to church once a week won't make up for the "world" they live in the other 6 days if it's not consistent with what's taught on Sunday. Thanks for that word!
me: a 20-something who has seen numerous people around me walk away from church. from what i have seen, there isn't much you can lay the blame on. i group up in a good Christian school and good Christian church. most of the parents did a pretty good job. the pastor, youth pastor, and teachers all cared and did marvelous jobs expositing God's Word. the bottom line is that many of my peers left because they rejected God. not as in they rejected God when they were 20, but they had always been in a state of rejecting God. it's not really all that different that the Jews in Jesus's day. they had everything they needed and more to accept Christ. most didn't.
One of the reasons why teens leave the faith after high school is the lack of authenticity in the people's lives who they know from church. This is a common theme among the teens we educate at our online homeschooling Academies.
The behavior of so many Christians makes many of us want to run away. I have often lamented that if I only knew Christ from his so called "body of believers", I would have left a long time ago. But thankfully I know Him and He is Real.
Parents need to make the Lord real to their children. And the best way to do that, imho, is live like He is there. When no one is looking. Because the kids are. I'll freely confess that I have missed this particular mark frequently with my 8 children. But by God's grace, all my children are professing Christians-some searching and bit less sure than others.
This is an important dialogue to engage in among the church. I hope this conversation will expand and solutions will be undertaken.
Mimi Rothschild
CEO, Learning By Grace, Inc.
www.LearningByGrace.org
Well, I can say it's all about their spiritual belief.These students maintain a strong belief for the God in their deep heart. Thanks for the information.I may say that it is surely an interesting blog.
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youth are leaving church because it is not cool enough for them. you reckon?
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I guess many of the youth are leaving church because of there busy life, mind, and heart. I seldom see youth on Sunday's. Even in worship day on ordinary days. . .
i dont like it when people give us church because it is not cool anymore so sad.
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I believe a big reason kids are dropping their churches is because the Churches are still stuck doing things the same way they were done in the 1800's. They are totally out of touch with the times. Its the 21st Century people !!! Most Churches are still singing 1800's hymns out of the hymnals to the droning mournfoul sound of an organ or piano. They are composed mostly of people in their 80's who DO NOT WANT anything to change in their churces. And they are getting their way because they are the ones giving big bucks in the collection plates and they are the ones giving money to their churches in their wills. So the churches cater exclusively to the elderly, while ignoring the youth. There are more and more contemporary service churches now springing up in response to that problem and its a good thing. But the churches have to make themselves RELATIVE to the real life situations of our young people. Not just lip service on Sunday. It has to actually HELP and BECOME INVOLVED in helping GUIDE young people through the problems and pitfalls of adolescence. It has to actually be a real part of their lives. Not just an hour on Sunday that you doze or daydream through. Kids have to feel comfortable enough with their church leaders to be able to come to them and confide in them concerning their everyday problems and get real solutions.