61% Dropout Rate
I just read a Barna study that said the church dropout rate for twenty-somethings is 61%. I've read stats that put it as high as 86%, but that is absolutely staggering one way or the other! We're losing a generation.
Is it just me or does it seem like that number has biblical proportions?
It honestly reminds me of Judges 2:10:
After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.
We need to do some serious praying and serious strategizing. I never want to be a "point out the problem" kind of person. I hope NCC is part of the solution.
Bottomline: We've got to reach emerging generations.
Is it just me or does it seem like that number has biblical proportions?
It honestly reminds me of Judges 2:10:
After that generation died, another generation grew up who did not acknowledge the Lord or remember the mighty things he had done for Israel.
We need to do some serious praying and serious strategizing. I never want to be a "point out the problem" kind of person. I hope NCC is part of the solution.
Bottomline: We've got to reach emerging generations.
14 Comments:
I'm concerned about the Xer's my generation. They seem to have dropped off peoples concerned list and yet they are not to be found in the worshipping community.
Does the study take into account those who are leaving conventional churches and participating in (or even starting) alternative forms of gatherings? My guess is that it doesn't.
I don't know the parameters of the study, but I know that is the focal point of Barna's book--the conventional church isn't cutting it for most twenty-somethings.
I think some people are finding legit alternatives, but my greatest concern is the sheer volume of twenty-sonmethings slipping through the cracks and becoming dechurched.
Mark
Personally Barna's research or rather polling is just a sampling.
I would look more into some of the stuff of Christian Smith.
hey man, just an encouragement, my generation, youngish ppl, im 20, in Ireland is really cool, theres a real passion for Jesus, and even in the thick of all the crap that goes on in Northern Ireland... Psalm 24:3-6...
We just had a big discussion on this a couple days ago on my blog, actually:
http://www.timschmoyer.com/2006/10/11/why-students-are-dropping-out-of-church/
My wife posted a comment about why she slipped away from church as a teenager and what brought her back. A lot of helpful feedback there.
When you read that the average American is working one month more per year than they were three decades ago and the last time i checked there is still only 168 hours in a week then its no wonder that this generation is giving second thoughts to the theater value of ritual worship that we are offering in many churches. Even the faithful of this generation are hurrying to get thorugh worship so they can visit their shrink because the menu we have for them is "Gospel Lite" as reported in a prvious New York Times article on mega churches.
Pastors are running to conferences in order to learn how to program people when the whole issue I believe revolves around how do we shape our effort so we can reach people where they are and invest in them so God can help them grow into what he wants them to be. The form of our structures need to be adjusted to address the functioning needs of people in a educated and competitive world of pressure and struggling peers.
I pastor an English Speaking Korean Church in New York City. My congregation members are all under 35. They are all on the move. My role with them is to use the moments I have them to plant the seeds of the word that God desires to place in their hearts so that in the dark moments they have in their lives, when human reasoning fails them, the Holy Spirit will bring to light some vitality of redemptive hope that we might have sown along the way.
The world does not lack for faithful ministry people but the press goes to the shallow, the programatic, and others who lift up themselves at the expense of the real Christ who really makes the difference. God help us all to do a better job of creating a climate for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of this generation.
To borrow from your terminology, Mark, this is a good place to apply the concept that truth is found between the tension of opposites. Look at the story of the prodigal son. On one end we have a son who stays obedient and as a result, remains ignorant of his relationship with his dad. On the other end, we have a son who departs and rebels, and as a result, comes to learn about grace and forgiveness. The truth, then, may lie somewhere near the fact that there will always be some that may have to quit going to church to start searching for God.
Good thoughts one and all.
Scripture says forsake not the assembling together of yourselves so a "Christian community" is vitally important for spiritual longevity. But maybe "church" as we know it doesn't really "look" or "act" like the Acts church that much? I'm not casting accusations. I just think there are new ways of "doing church" that bring believers together in ways that are very missional.
All I know is this: we need to keep experimenting.
Mark
I agree, of course! (And I shouldn't blog at 1 AM... my points are not always coherent)
My comments weren't intended to divorce the concepts of a growing life with God and a vibrant church experience. That would be slightly heretical? My point was that many church youth who grow up in the church serve the God of their parents. In other words, they do it because it is what they have always done. They have never really experienced "saving" grace in a personal way because the worst thing they think they need saving from is the fact that some of their playlists in iTunes have secular artists.
So my point was that some of these kids, by walking away from their tradition, start the path of their own personal exploration of truth. And I am not altogether sure that this is a bad thing. In those situations, we should take Prov. 22:6 as our confidence and not wonder what we did wrong.
So I am not suggesting that they can GROW strong with Christ apart from church... just that it may be outside the church where they need to meet Christ. That's what happened to me. I was raised in a Christian home with loving parents and went my entire life to a GREAT church pastored by my grandfather. But I never knew Christ the way I knew him the night I called out for him as a 21 y.o. in the emergency room after having had a brush with death... the end of a 6 year sabbatical from the church. It was that night that I "surrendered all" and could finally sing the hymn and know what it meant. And to that end, I don't fault the church for having "lost" me... but rather praise it for welcoming me back with open arms.
Good thoughts Lane.
NCC is 50% dechurched so I've heard so many stories about people who believed because their parents believed. I call it second-hand faith. It may be as dangerous as second-hand smoke :) Somehow they find NCC on the rebound and really own their faith for the first time.
All I know is this. Every journey is unique and it's a testament to how big God is :)
Mark
P-daddy :: I agree with you re: second-hand faith. . .I think this is the #1 reason for the trend of attrition that many are noticing lately. It is easy to believe when you are surrounded by an affirming environment (parents, church events, structure). . .but then again even demons believe and tremble.
The real test is when one is plucked out of this cocoon and placed in Ninevah (ie, the DC-ghetto). Like Jonah--many of us have to learn the hard way whether our God is big enough to still be God all the way across the sea in a foreign place, with a foreign people, with no cultural stigmata to remind us of our religion every time we turn around.
I only get swallowed up by the whale when--in my eyes--God becomes too small to save the ninevah he has called me to and I run away. . . .and the whale is a blessing in disguise---unpleasent as it may be, it takes me to the place I am running from. The whale is like the proverb---faithful are the wounds of a friend.
The hope is that when I run, I will come around rather than find lounging in the puke, rotting fish, and gastric juices of the whale to be an acceptable alternative. Life 20k leagues under the sea is no place for landlubber creatures given two legs, two lungs, and an affinity for vitamin D. I was created for a greater purpose than walking around with a chip on my shoulder and a back to the King of the Universe.
How should pastors, preachers, teachers, evangelists, apostles engage the individuals who are the church to inspire a faith that goes beyond the externally dependent cocoon to become part of one's primal fire (a la Erwin McManus)---so it doesn't take a trip in the belly of a whale in order to find a mature faith? How should church look and feel in order to be universal rather than circumstantial? And how should the individual be held responsbile for blaming God/others for his own poor choices?
Trey,
I can tell you've been getting your diet of F.W. Boreham bro :)
Wow. Great thoughts!
P daddy
yessir ::: i think i shared with you that essay. . .it inspired me to spend time dissecting and meditating on jonah. . .
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