Monday, November 14, 2011
A Good Reason to Take Action
In a recent article based on a five year project by the Barna Group, researchers documented a number of reasons young adults are leaving the church. While some of their reasons for leaving are predictable, "the church feels unfriendly to those who doubt," and "the church can be antagonistic toward things like science," some are less predictable. For example, 20% of those teenagers interviewed said that God seemed to be missing from their experience of church. That seems odd to me considering traditionally worship involves scripture reading, sermon and prayer. Perhaps another way to understand this is is to say young adults fail to connect with traditional forms of worship. Another reason given for their departure is the church's judgmental attitude. Young adults shaped by a culture that esteems open-mindedness, tolerance, and acceptance often find the church to be closed minded, intolerant and judgmental. Why should we be concerned? Nearly three out of every five young adult Christians disconnect either permanently or for an extended period of time from church life after age 15. What that means is statistically speaking, the majority of young adults who have grown up in our church, attending Sunday School, Confirmation and Youth Group will disappear from active church life during their teen years, many never to return. That's a good reason not only to be concerned but to take action.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Could the same "reasons" be used by people of all ages? Should the church be focused on a single age group or try to reach all people?
ReplyDeleteIt's a great question! Why focus on any specific group? What is becoming obvious across Christendom is that young adults do not respond to the generalized approach. In fact, it doesn't work for most age groups which is why in most churches there are ministries for babies, young children, 6th graders, Jr. and Sr. High Youth, couples, and older adults. Currently we offer specific ministries to all these groups. I can't count how many times I've had parents within the church bemoan the fact the church has nothing for their young adult. No college ministry, nothing for young professionals just out of school. We've been generalizing to young adults for years and have seen few and far between. They're here one Sunday and gone the next. Since Jonathan arrived, young adults are not only coming and staying, they are excited about a being a part of a ministry directed to their needs.
ReplyDelete