Christianity: Barna Group Study Shows Twentysomethings Leaving Church

Here is a disquieting article from The Barna Group that finds that most twentysomething Christians move away from the faith they practiced in their teenage years. According to the study 81% of teenagers say they've attended a church for at least 2 months in their teenage years. However, 61% of young adults who were significantly reached by a Christian community (likely through a youth group or similar ministry) during their teens are spiritually disengaged in their twenties. Only 20% who were churched as a teen remain spiritually active at age 29. Whether these folks generally come back to God in their 30's is being debated, but the fact remains that 3 out of 4 youths who the church reached in their teenage years walk away from the church in their college and early career years.

I'll leave it to each of you to interpret what this means about the Church's ministry, but I agree with the authors of the report that it appears to show that youth groups need to do a better job of discipling young Christians. I could hazard some opinions of some of the failures occuring in youth programs (lack of teaching youth how to think Christianly, segregating them from the church body and thus creating an unfamiliarity with the community of faith they will be in as they reach adulthood, not following up with them to help them join a college ministry). However, it would be unfair to lay the blame on youth groups. Additionally, many churches do a horrendous job of ministering to college students and young professionals, something that amounts to a catastrophic failure of discipleship. My friend Brian Cronin and others have also pointed to a yearning for community and friendships that are not being found in the church. This failure is greater than that of the youth groups, who by design cease their ministry after a high school graduation.

It can be argued that for most people, the two most significant choices in life are made in their twenties: (1) choice of education and career path (2) choice of a marriage partner or at least the type of person they want to marry. The Church, by failing to disciple and strongly reach out to men and women deciding these matters is proclaiming itself to be either irrelevant or disinterested regarding the core matters of a person's life. To quote the article: "These individuals are making significant life choices and determining the patterns and preferences of their spiritual reality while churches wait, generally in vain, for them to return after college or when the kids come. When and if young adults do return to churches, it is difficult to convince them that a passionate pursuit of Christ is anything more than a nice add-on to their cluttered lifestyle." No wonder these folks often consider Christianity an "add-on" to their lives--the body of Christ played no significant part in the major life decisions that formed much of who they are.