The missing generations

Go into many churches, especially if they are older and smaller churches, and you are likely to find some generations missing.  You will often find in these churches senior saints and smaller children who were probably brought to the church by their grandparents. You are likely not to find many in the 18-39 age range. These generations have been lost to many churches. Many in this age range attended church when they were younger, but for various reasons they have withdrawn from the church.

Some people believe they left the church because they found the music and/or the worship services boring. This is probably true for some of them. Others point to college as a factor in many of them walking away from the church or even their faith. No doubt this is also true for some. But these may not be the primary reasons we have lost our young people and continue to do so.

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, has studied young people for a number of years and believes there are other reasons we see young people walking away from the church. He writes about what his research has taught him in his book You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church . . . and Rethinking Faith.

One of the interesting reasons he has found is that the church is overprotective. Many children today are raised by what has become known as helicopter parents who want to protect them from anything that might harm them. Certainly, no parent wants their children harmed, but it's possible to go overboard with trying to protect them from every possible danger. I'm surprised some kids are not sent outside to play covered in bubble-wrap!

As these children grow us they find many churches doing the same thing. They are constantly warned about the dangers of the world. Again, such warnings are necessary as there is much evil in the world. But they wonder how the church can influence our culture if we are to avoid it.

Jesus always spoke of the risks associated with following Him. He never promised life would be easy or even safe when one became a Christian. He challenged us to be in the world but not of it. We are to be salt and light to our evil world, not avoid it. Young people want to make a difference in the world, and they are frustrated that the church's teaching often discourages that.

Kinnaman wrote, "For many young Christians, there is a realization that they want to follow Christ in a way that does not separate them from the culture. They want to be culture makers, not culture avoiders." When they see their church merely condemning the culture without trying to redeem it, they will try to do that without the church.

The author points out that this is especially true for young people who are creatives and artists. Christian musicians are sometimes condemned by the church for performing for secular audiences. Christian filmmakers also may not receive much support from the Christian community if their movies are not overtly Christian. The music and films may contain positive Christian-inspired themes, but some in the church will still not be satisfied. 

If we want to keep our young people the church must become willing to support them in their efforts to transform the culture in which they are going to live. That could get messy at times and it may be uncomfortable for some people, but this is the risk we must take. We've often heard people say that young people are the church of the future, but these people are wrong. Young people are the church of today if we will help them in their efforts to transform the culture in which we all live.