Large
numbers of young adults who frequently attended Protestant worship
services in high school are dropping out of church.
Two-thirds
of young people say they stopped regularly going to church for at
least a year between the ages of 18 and 22, a new LifeWay Research survey shows.
That
means the church had a chance to share its message and the value of
attending with this group, but it didn't stick, said Scott
McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research.
"That's
a lot of folks saying, 'No, that's not for me' or 'It's not for me right now'
at that young age," McConnell said.
LifeWay
Research released its student dropout survey on Tuesday. The
Nashville-based entity interviewed 2,002 U.S. adults ages 23 to
30 who attended a Protestant church two times or more a month for at least
a year in high school. The interviews were conducted from Sept. 15 to Oct. 13,
2017.
LifeWay
Research is a ministry of LifeWay Christian Resources, which is the publishing
arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The
high dropout did not surprise Pastor Chris Brooks, who leads the Kairos
congregation at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tenn. The majority of
those who attend Kairos' Tuesday night service are between the ages of 22
and 29.
"There
is a substantial amount of people in this age demographic who for whatever
reason decided that the church is no longer integral to building their faith or
their faith is no longer integral to them," Brooks said.
He
loves young adults. They are selfish, but also still trying to figure out who
they are and what they want to do, Brooks said. It leads to lively
and challenging discussions at church, which he welcomes.
"It's
identity and purpose, which are common themes throughout the Bible,"
Brooks said. "And, they're becoming aware of do they like the God that
they were given growing up?"
Why young people say they are
not going to church
The 66
percent who said they stopped attending church regularly as young adults
cited a variety of reasons for leaving. The survey listed 55 and
asked them to pick all that applied. On average, they chose seven or eight
reasons, McConnell said.
The
reasons fell under four categories:
·
Nearly all — 96 percent — cited life changes, including moving to
college and work responsibilities that prevented them from
attending.
·
Seventy-three percent said church or pastor-related
reasons led them to leave. Of those, 32 percent said church members
seemed judgmental or hypocritical and 29 percent said they did not feel
connected to others who attended.
·
Seventy percent named religious, ethical or political
beliefs for dropping out. Of those, 25 percent said they disagreed
with the church's stance on political or social issues while 22 percent said
they were only attending to please someone else.
·
And, 63 percent said student and youth ministry reasons contributed
to their decision not to go. Of those, 23 percent said they never connected
with students in student ministry and 20 percent said the students seemed
judgmental or hypocritical.
"We're
tapping into a lot of different feelings and logistical things as well,"
said McConnell, pointing out that this age group is often in a time of
transition.
But
leaving was not an intentional decision for many. Of those who dropped out, 71
percent said they did not plan on it.
"A
statistic like that says, 'Wow, we need to help these young people plan
ahead,'" McConnell said.
(Link to website below for easy to view chart)
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Those who left are not out of
reach, experts say
At Iowa
State University, it takes students to reach other students with the gospel,
said Kendra Gustafson, associate director of The Salt Company,
which is a Southern Baptist ministry on the Ames, Iowa campus.
"We
have found that discipling and equipping our student leaders to reach out to
their peers has been probably the most effective form of ministry,"
Gustafson said. "They really can do it. Give them courage and just
boldness to just relationally welcome people in."
McConnell
does not think those who have left between the ages of 18 and 22 are
out of the church's reach forever.
When
the 66 percent who said they left picked reasons for leaving, only 10 percent
said they dropped out because they stopped believing in God.
Some
who stopped attending church had already returned. At the time of
the survey interviews, 31 percent of those who had dropped out as
young adults said they were currently attending twice a month or
more. Thirty-nine percent said they were attending church once a
month or less and 29 percent were not going at all.
"I
think the church should continue to reach out to them and be sharing the news
of the gospel to have a relation with God, but also to have a relationship with
the church," McConnell said. "For many of these young people, they
haven't completely rejected the church, they may just be attending less and
thinking that's OK."
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Reach
Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com
or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.
