In the last post, I provided a summary about emerging adults from Christian Smith’s new book Souls In Transition. Now, let’s explore what this means for ministering to this generation. Rather than focusing on outreach to the current emerging adults, I want to focus on how we pass on our values to the next generation in light of this research.

Are Christian Kids Leaving their Faith?

One of the surprising findings of Souls In Transition is that 64 percent of 13 to 17 year old conservative Protestants (evangelicals) remained so as emerging adults five years later (p. 108). Thus, 36 percent are leaving their evangelical faith after five years. This is still a significant number, but it is a far cry from the common claims that 80-90 percent of evangelicals are leaving their faith after high school graduation. Smith says, “The myth of overall religious decline among emerging adults must be dispelled” (283). In fact, Smith argues that those who do not go to college are more likely to lose their faith than those who do go.

In 2005, sociologist Christian Smith released a monumental study of the spiritual lives of American youth. The study—called “The National Study of Youth and Religion”—is detailed in the book Soul Searching and is an insightful and eye-opening account of what students ages 13-17 believe about God and religion. A few months ago, Smith released a follow-up book called Souls In Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults (Oxford, 2010) that follows these same students as they transition into adulthood.

Like Soul Searching, this book is a must-read for anyone—parents, youth pastors, and teachers—interested in understanding the mindset of this generation. Smith is a careful, thoughtful, and highly respected sociologist from Notre Dame. He writes Souls in Transition to inform about this generation rather than to persuade to a particular form of ministry. Thus, people from various theological backgrounds will appreciate his work.