The stats are in, and those 18-30 are increasingly unlikely to "go to church." Recent polling shows 30 percent of this age church claims no religious affiliation at all. And in my own fellowship, Churches of Christ, this age group (and even Gen X, my own generation), is deserting our fellowship in droves. This saddens me greatly, and it is laid upon my heart to do everything possible to reach these generations.
Why are they leaving? A variety of reasons, but many of them see the church as irrelevant, with a collection of rules rather than a people of love and grace, that fails to communicate in their language. And today we have alive 6 generations for the first time since Methuselah, perhaps, due to people living long lives. And the pace of change is incredible today, so they have had vastly different experiences and have grown up with vastly different communication styles.
And what happens in a local congregation is that, because so many younger people have left, they have little to no voice. (Certainly, those in the community have no voice, either.) And those that are there don't usually complain publicly or send emails to the elders. They just leave. They feel that the church is out of touch and is not impacting them and is not relevant to their lives, so they either go somewhere else or drop out entirely.
And then when congregations try to implement things that impact younger people, which can prove challenging to those who grew up with something else, because there are so few of them around, the only voices that are often heard by leadership are those who don't want things to change. And psychologists will tell us that it takes 10-20 positives to equal the force of a negative. So even if everyone were present and equally represented, it would only take a few negatives to create a negative perception--even if the majority was supportive of the direction. And younger people tend to not have as much to give financially either, so if they leave it has less impact upon the financial bottom line.
Francis Chan spoke at the Tulsa Workshop this year, and the first thing that he noted was that the crowd was very old. Wow. It was so glaringly obvious to him--and he speaks all around the nation in various venues--that we have lost our young people. I suppose that we have, sadly, gotten used to it. His prayer was that we would listen to our younger people and not quench the Spirit with them, and that he would return another year and see a much younger crowd.
Unfortunately, that is not is what is currently happening. Sure, people are glad to have younger generations come--as long as absolutely nothing is different in the church. Young or old both have value, and they can learn from one another. But the church simply cannot stay stuck in the 1950s and reach people today. The evidence is in--it cannot and will not work.
Here is often what happens in churches. Change is tried to impact the people that are leaving or are not there. There is objection--and it only takes a few of them to outweigh the majority who may be glad to see these positive moves--and the movement is squelched. Worse, when this happens and the church goes backwards, then those who have gotten excited that perhaps things will happen that will impact them or their children, they then become even more discouraged and leave. (In fact, going backwards after going forwards due to complaints is the worst scenario and one in which a church often ends of losing most everyone.)
These younger folks won't demand a meeting. They will never be heard from. They are very polite. They just walk away. And the death spiral of the church continues.
This is the scenario that is played out in church after church. Congregations are choosing a slow, but inevitable death and decline. And without these younger generations, the church will eventually die in many places. It takes strong leadership and conviction to buck this trend being played out in congregation after congregation over the US.
May God intervene and somehow change this cycle of certain decline.
Comment
Yes, Satan does seem to often leave those who are not reaching out alone, and attacks those churches which are reaching out.
Thank you, Rod, for your thoughts. Often people mistake changes in externals as being changes in fundamental beliefs or the acceptance of anything. That is Satan at work--he works through fear and causes much havoc in this way. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Being born and raised into the C of C tradition, and now being a former member of the C of C, I could not agree more with this post. I belonged to what would be considered by most Churches of Christ as progressive or liberal. I was a worship minister at this congregation as well. We had the praise team and the powerpoint etc. We were ostracized by our local brotherhood for attempting to reach a segment of our community in non traditional ways. I actually heard a negatively toned statement from someone at a neighboring church who said "They will pretty much accept anyone over there". We took it as a compliment. Of course there were many other similar comments about worship style, view of scripture and ways in which we attempted to reach youth. It had even come to the point in which our local brotherhood would not allow our youth to interact with there youth. I could not believe the message that was being sent to our young people. If this is what our youth and their youth saw, why would they want to be a part of the church? I don't blame them for leaving.
I now am a member of a community church that is intentional of reaching those on the fringe of society as well any who want to engage with Christ. It is an exciting place and people who likely would not ever attend church are running face first into Jesus. Yet other local churches still want to criticize. I believe that these people assume that God is not working in places like the church I attend. It never ceases to amaze me how pride gets in the way of seeing the beauty and good that is taking place in people's lives that may never have happened if not for the "progressive" or "liberal" churches. The C of C has always been committed to the knowledge of scripture. I believe that because of this commitment to knowledge, it could be the next stop for true seekers who long for deeper understanding and relationship. In order for that to happen, it would require swallowing their pride and finding a place in the kingdom that would draw those seekers into deeper fellowship. I have often wondered if the decline of the C of C is part of God's plan. I'm still trying to way this out. I do believe God is in control of all things in spite of what we think and regardless of what we say or do.
Thanks for the post James!
What are the steps that we can take stop this decline? We are all aware of young people leaving the church. What is some suggestions to the how - how do we get young people into the door of the building and help them BUY into the mission of the church?
AoJCS, you are correct in saying it is the responsibility of each of us to repent, particularly from those things that have been elevated to the place of God (idolatry). Consider the perspective that repentance is preparation to start being transformed into the likeness of God,but a self-focus on repentance, itself, is not growing into maturity, but is milk of the word (Heb. 6:1-3).
Also, it appears that you and James are addressing problems at different levels. You seem to be addressing a relationship to God at a personal level more than on a corporate (church) level. James is addressing problems on the corporate level. If you have a model relationship with God on a personal level, that is great, but people on the streets of New York City or Miami or LA are not likely to be impressed. You may influence individuals with whom you come in contact; a group may influence a neighborhood; a congregation may influence a town; etc. It takes the universal body of Christ to influence the world. Sure, it starts with the individual; but multiply the impact of that individual by 3 or 4 or 5 orders of magnitude, and you are on the level that James is talking about. Both levels are important, but that difference must be considered or else we talk on different channels. Church groups can have idols, too. Sometimes the idol is in the pride for their interpreted doctrine, and they seemingly would rather lose members than recognize that.."Defend the faith?" Why does "the faith" need defending? The "defensiveness" that groups mount is more for their pride of interpretation, which is their idol. That's a problem at the corporate (tribal) level.
Excellent thoughts, Martha, excellent thoughts. Hope others think like you!
That's a bummer, having to choose between punishment and punishment. Perhaps David went through that as an example to us so we might learn something and not have to repeat that fate. (Like in 1 Cor.10:1-11). David was given a choice because he saw his sin and repented. Is the church today to that point yet, or is the church still in an adulterous relationship with the world? The question is: How much longer will the church be given a choice before God's discipline has to make our choice for us? That is the point when it is not possible to redirect because the system is too corrupt and must be dismantled. God did the ultimate intervention when He sent Jesus. Jesus came and He sent us. If we were going warp speed 10 toward Jesus, this wouldn't be a conversation about decline; it would be a praise report. We're saying the same things in different words.
Theophilus, you may be right! When God intervenes, it is not always pleasant on us, even if it is for our own good. Although David chose God's punishment over the punishment of his enemies when he sinned.
James, are you sure you want to say "May God intervene and ......" You know what has happened in biblical history when God has had to "intervene" because His people were going down a natural slide because they would not put Him first. I would say, "May we wake up and get our eyes on Jesus instead of one another and the world before God has to intervene and institute change." Babylon exists today.
And, John, perhaps you can explain what you really meant by your comment. Some of your observations have validity, but I can see little relation between the post and your comment, especially your first sentence.
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