In an earlier blog
I wrote that more and more young people are falling away from the church. They are not identifying themselves as
Christians yet they're remaining followers of Christ.
While this is true for many, it is not the case for all. Most are wondering off the path. They are not remaining
followers. Recent surveys by the Barna Group* paint the
picture. They describe two groups of 18 to 29 year olds who have left the
church: Nomads are young people who are wandering. They have left the church yet still consider
themselves Christians: 43% think church and Christian friends are optional; 25%
say faith and religion is just not important to them now; and 23% say that they
used to be involved in their church but don’t fit there any more.
Prodigals are young people who are lost. They have a Christian background but have lost their
faith. They describe themselves as no
longer Christian: 20% say they had a negative experience in church or with
Christians; 21% say that Christian beliefs don’t make sense to them; 19% say
their spiritual needs can not be met by Christianity.
So, what’s going
on here? Why so much spiritual infant
mortality (Prodigals) and Infants-at-risk (Nomads)? If the issue was actually physical infant
mortality, experts at the Centers for Disease Control, World Health
Organization, and UNICEF would respond with the very basic regimens for
addressing the preventable causes of premature deaths of infants from birth to
age five. Their success over the years
has dramatically cut back infant mortality worldwide. They understand the causes and the means to
address the challenge and they’re doing it.
The church is the
Body of Christ and as such it is not well, at least in the West. Again, what’s going on? Perhaps it’s several things. Here’s what I see:
- Many faith communities emphasize making believers (an intellectual exercise) and fail to make disciples (head, heart, and life). They're not the same. Jesus did not say make believers.
- The primary responsibility for making disciples is in the home. The path starts in the home and it remains the primary locus of discipleship. It is the calling and duty of every parent. Parents need help. Many have never been discipled themselves. This is one area churches can rise to the occasion, discipling parents and teaching them to disciple their children. Otherwise, many parents push the responsibility off onto private Christian schools and church youth groups.
- Christian Schools drift away from discipleship paradigms to the conventional patterns found in secular public schools. They follow the same path as many Christian college and universities in the past who failed to hold to the primary mission of making disciples and capitulated to secular goals and standards. Teacher education programs in Christian universities must integrate ways and means of discipleship into the teacher preparation K-12 curricula.
- Many youth groups excel at entertainment and fun factory events (roller skating, paint ball, pizza parties, pool parties, etc.) and devote little time and attention to young people’s spiritual formation, calling, and service. Ten minutes of devotions and a quick prayer at the end of a fun time is not discipleship.
In the vacuums created by families, schools and church youth groups, alternatives to discipleship flourish. Vacuums will always be
filled by something. I suspect that both Nomad and
Prodigal vacuums are being filled by an abundance of opportunities for entertainment
via the internet, texting, video games, and more all of which carry more toxic content than wholesome. Young people are
not the problem. They are the victims of
our benign neglect to take the Great Commission seriously: MAKE DISCIPLES . . . (Matthew 28:19). Lets figure it out. Lets be vigilant. Lets be holy and get to work!
* https://www.barna.org/barna-update/millennials/612-three-spiritual-journeys-of-millennials.html#nomads
