How Many Youth are Leaving the Church?

Brett Kunkle — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:38:00 -0800

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?

What's this helmet for? I thought I only needed sandals.

Nick Bogardus — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:37:38 -0800

I've had an image in my head for two weeks. I don't remember exactly how it came about but I can tell you the things that birthed it. Here's a warning in advance for anyone who is trigger-happy either way at a mention of the name of our President: I'm going to mention him first simply because I think the example is indicative of a larger trend, so I promise it will be brief and we'll move on quickly from there.

The New York Times carried an account of a town hall-style meeting that Obama did in Greensboro, NC.

"Speaking at a town hall-style meeting here before a few thousand people, Mr. Obama was asked by a young man about the role that Jesus Christ and his teachings played in Mr. Obama’s life.

He began his response with a broad statement of faith: “I’m a Christian. What that means for me is that I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, and, uh, and, and, uh, his grace and his mercy and his power, through him, I can achieve everlasting life.”

Invoking the golden rule, he also said he believed in treating all people of all faiths (as well as non-believers) with dignity and respect, and he noted that his mother was “not a believer as I am” – but was also the kindest person he ever knew.

“I’m sure she’s in heaven,” he said.

“I think it’s very important to think that you do not have to have the same faith as me to be a moral person – there are a lot of Jewish people who are as moral, or more moral than I am, there are a lot of Muslims who are decent kind people,” Mr. Obama said. “I don’t think they are any less children of God.”

My next dose of fuel came with a seeing a recent Barna Group Survey that contained these findings.

"Evidence of people’s willingness to part with church teaching was shown in other data from the survey regarding what people believe. Among individuals who describe themselves as Christian, for instance, close to half believe that Satan does not exist, one-third contend that Jesus sinned while He was on earth, two-fifths say they do not have a responsibility to share the Christian faith with others, and one-quarter dismiss the idea that the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches."

And, more alarmingly astonishing, the Barna survey contained these "implications of the research".

"The Christian faith is less of a life perspective that challenges the supremacy of individualism as it is a faith being defined through individualism. Americans are increasingly comfortable picking and choosing what they deem to be helpful and accurate theological views and have become comfortable discarding the rest of the teachings in the Bible. "

"Faith, of whatever variety, is increasingly viral rather than pedagogical. With people spending less time reading the Bible, and becoming less engaged in activities that deepen their biblical literacy, faith views are more often adopted on the basis of dialogue, self-reflection, and observation than teaching. Feelings and emotions now play a significant role in the development of people’s faith views - in many cases, much more significant than information-based exercises such as listening to preaching and participating in Bible study."

Now, those pieces are loaded with things we can talk about and dissect, all of it harrowing news for the Church. I want to keep it simple and point out the combination of relativism and moralism that appears in those reflections of American Christianity. From Obama one second having a somewhat orthodox statement of faith and changing it minutes later to deny the exclusivity of Christ, to survey findings that make plain the average Christian's combination of Biblical illiteracy and emphasis on good deeds and ethics (the result of "Deeds not Creeds"), we need to see something evolving that other, more intelligent, and articulate men have dubbed "Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism". It's like Oprah meets good ol' American can-do spirit.

I would tack onto these examples the emphasis in the American Church over the past two decades or so for politicizing social justice issues - many of those issues being the reason the left-leaning portion of the Church voted Democrat this past election and why much of the right-leaning portion voted Republican before them.

Quickly of course, I need to include the disclaimer that I am in no way saying that treating people with dignity and respect is a bad thing; nor am I saying that being good or ethical are things unimportant to Christians; nor am I saying that it's a bad thing that large portions of the church champion their chosen social justice issues. My concern is when those things are championed at the expense of, or unhitched from, the anchor, foundation, and centrality of Christ and the truth of the Gospel. My concern is what is reflected in that survey.

This is where the image in my head comes in. What I've pictured in my head is an army; one like you would see in Braveheart or Lord of the Rings with rows and columns. Usually when you're given views of a battlefield in those movies you see a certain organization to it all; archers here, catapults there, calvary on the hill. But, what I imagine is a field of banners - row after row in every direction, banners. Though it looks organized - the army has a colorful array of flags - everyone seems to have their own banner or agenda. Worse yet, the troops are naked and unarmed. They are prepared to charge into battle with no organization, no plan, no swords, no shields - nothing but blind zeal (maybe).

My concern is that what is reflected in that survey is that Christians, large portions of the Church, treat Christianity more like a cause to rally behind rather than a vital faith with an eternal source and an eternal consequence. We might be busy and we might be loud, but we are illiterate, insubordinate, and apathetically tolerant. We might be busy, but we aren't training disciples.

A.W. Tozer, with his typical surgical precision, said it well:

"Another substitute for discipleship I would mention (though these do not exhaust the list) is zealous religious activity.

Working for Christ has today been accepted as the ultimate test of godliness among all but a few evangelical Christians. Christ has become a project to be promoted or a cause to be served instead of a Lord to be obeyed. Thousands of mistaken persons seek to do for Christ whatever their fancy suggests should be done, and in whatever way they think best. The what and the how of Christian service can only originate in the sovereign will of our Lord, but the busy beavers among us ignore this fact and think up their own schemes. The result is an army of men who run without being sent and speak without being commanded."

So, what do we do about this? What do we do as a largely illiterate, insubordinate, unprepared group of believers? My humble suggestion would be to constantly be teaching ourselves and training ourselves. I propose beginning with a look at Ephesians 6. That is what I hope to do in some small way with a coming blog series on Ephesians 6:10-20.

Maybe you're like me and you're (mildly) young, anxious, and revved up to save the world; and you're ready to run into the thick of it in cargo shorts and converse. These stats and this passage should, like a loving parent, say, "Slow down, William Wallace." Maybe you're older and tired and think your days of action are behind you. Those stats and this passage should compel you to open your closet, move the boxes, and dust off that helmet that you once knew so well. Or, maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about and I sound like a raving, face-painted madman. "Army? Banners? This dude must have had a BB gun and a wild imagination as a kid. I'm a Christian. I just need my sandals and acoustic guitar, man!" Well, then I hope those stats and this passage stir you to get in the game.

(Please feel free to add comments or questions because I'm doing this for myself as much as anyone else.)