4 Ways the Church Keeps Young People From Faith
Retaining young adults in the church starts with getting the gospel right.
Feb 28th, 2012 | By Skye Jethani | Category: Church, Consumerism, Culture, Faith, Features, Formation, Leadership, Mission, TheologyLast month I spoke at the Lumen conference at Mariners Church in California. They asked me to talk for 18 minutes about why there is an exodus of young people from our churches. Rather than focusing on the sociological data, I used my time to talk about how the way we understand the gospel may actually be inoculating young people to genuine faith.
When the church presents a less than biblical understanding of how to relate to God, it leaves young people with a powerless form of Christianity predicated on fear and control. When this way of life proves ineffective, they may abandon both their faith in Christ and the church. So, our first job is to get the gospel right. Check out my talk and the brief Q&A afterward. Much of the content you see is based on my book, WITH.
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I think you’re really onto something here. But it isn’t just young people who leave Evangelical Churches for these reasons. I was in my late 40s when I left to become an Eastern Orthodox Christian–a place where that ravishing vision was clear once again for me.