Young people have questions the church needs to answer

 Many reasons are given as to why many young people leave the church. Each young person has his or her own reasons for walking away from the church if not the faith, but one reason seems to come up quite often. No one was willing to answer their questions. As I was discussing this with one group a young teen spoke up and said that was her experience in her youth group. She's a pretty sharp young lady who is not afraid to ask questions, but she said her questions were mostly ignored by the youth leaders which made her feel like she was being ignored as well.

Some pastors and leaders seem to take the approach that because they say something further discussion is unnecessary and unwelcomed. In such an environment, young people might decide it's not safe to ask their questions, but they are also planning to leave that environment as soon as possible. In the past we often focused on the number of young people who left the church when they went to college and thought that experience was the reason. Recent studies have found that young people who left the church made the decision to do so during their high school years if not earlier. Perhaps for family reasons they could not do so, but they had decided long before leaving for college that the church was not in their future plans. For some of those young people, the fact that they could not safely ask their questions about the Christian faith and the church was the determining factor for that decision.

Some of these questions revolve around science. Some studies have found that over half of young people in youth groups plan a career in a science-related field. There has been a long history of distrust between science and faith, and in too many churches that distrust has been heightened by statements from the pulpit and from other church leaders and from many in the science community. Yet, there are many, many well-respected scientists who are strong Christian people. The church needs to hear those voices, and especially the young people planning a career in science needs to hear those voices. We do not need to fear questions about science. In fact, we should welcome them if we want to help our young people be able to connect their faith with their careers.

Other questions might concern lifestyle choices. Many today have questions about authority which would naturally lead to why we should accept the Bible as authoritative. In our pluralistic society there will be questions about some of the exclusive claims of Christianity. Is Jesus truly the only way to God? Again, we should welcome those questions, and many more, and be ready to engage in discussions with those raising them.

We cannot refuse to answer the questions our young people are asking without risking them turning away from the faith and the church. We've already lost too many for this reason. Such questions will help both the questioner and the ones providing answers grow in their faith and as disciples.