How concerned are you that churches in our country are not reaching young adults?
Last Saturday night, my wife and I attended worship at our home church. The service theme was, “What is the point of church?”
Our pastor interviewed David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, a Christian research organization located in Ventura, California. Kinnaman’s new book, You Lost Me, was published by Baker Books on October 1.
Here is a link to the book’s Amazon page if you’d like to order it:
The theme of our pastor’s questions and Kinnaman’s remarks was that the church in America is losing those who are 18 to 30 years of age.
He gave six reasons why this is the case:
First, the church is overprotective. You’ve heard of “helicopter parents” who are always hovering over their children? Kinnaman believes that we have too many “helicopter churches” as well. He says that young adults want to take risks but that churches tend to be risk-averse.
I saw this in my last church when we tried to take mission trips. Yes, it can be dangerous to travel to Africa and Eastern Europe, but if God is leading us there, can’t we count on His protection?
Some churches have also become overprotective in ministry because they listen more to attorneys than to God.
Second, the church is shallow. Young adults claim that churches are boring and that they don’t experience God when they attend. There’s nothing vibrant happening. Our pastor mentioned that when he meets with key leaders to plan weekend services, they try to build two or three “Ministry Moments” into the service so people can connect with God.
Too many churches are shallow because pastors have stopped teaching through biblical passages during worship. The pastor comes to a scriptural text or a topic with preconceived points he wants to make and sidesteps around difficult issues. I’m always playing mental chess with pastors, asking myself, “But what about this issue?” In my estimation, only 10% of all pastors in our day are dealing with tough texts or hard issues. We’ve become a mile wide and an inch deep.
Third, the church is antiscience. Kinnaman noted that more than half of all Christians are involved in technology, engineering, or health care – fields that all require a scientific bent – but that churches are either silent or antagonistic toward these areas. He also mentioned how anti-intellectual many Christians are today.
Science was never my best topic, so whenever I discussed it while teaching, I quoted from acknowledged experts. But if you have a brain, most churches today aren’t going to challenge your thinking too much. Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 14:20: “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” We need more churches that are both intellectually and spiritually credible.
Fourth, the church is repressive. Young people believe this is especially true when it comes to sexuality. Kinnaman observed that young adults value their relationships more than anything else, and that they tend to derive morality from their friends, not the church. When the two clash … they lean toward their friends … because if they side with the church, they may lose their friends. Kinnaman also noted that although Christians were once viewed as the mainstream in our country, now we’re considered to be the fringe. He also stated that there are 23 million Christians in America who no longer attend church.
This is a tough one. While I have always valued friends, I was taught to value following Jesus and standing alone even more. If the two clashed, I went with Jesus. Today, when the two clash, young adults are following their friends.
Fifth, the church is exclusive. Kinnaman noted that people in our country have become skeptical about everything, especially authority structure. We see this in the lack of confidence that people exhibit in government, academia, business, and the press – and unfortunately, churches are not immune from such skepticism. And our belief that Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” doesn’t mesh with the way most people think today. It’s too narrow.
If I could pastor again, I would reserve 10-15 minutes at the end of each message for people to ask questions and challenge what I said. When I visit churches today, if the pastor says something that I don’t agree with, there is no way for me to ask him for clarification or for me to express a viewpoint. (If I email him, I almost never receive an answer.) Even in university settings, students are able to ask questions of a professor, but we don’t allow that in our churches. What are we afraid of? (Probably missing the kickoff at 1:15.)
Finally, the church is doubtless. The church feels unfriendly for those who doubt. Kinnaman says that people do not feel comfortable expressing their mental reservations or emotional issues in a church setting.
I probably identified with this issue the most. When you’re in pain, and you take a risk and share your feelings with other Christians, the way they respond indicates whether you’ll talk to them again or not. If they respond with a monologue or condemnation, you’ll go elsewhere to share. But if they respond with genuine understanding, you can receive real help.
Our pastor ended the session by encouraging our church to be real, relevant, and relational. (I might add that we need to be rational as well.)
How do you react to these six observations by David Kinnaman? I’d love to hear your ideas.
Number three and number four resonate with me. My daughter’s high school recently renovated the entire campus with what’s called “cloud technology”. The classrooms are completely interactive with “smartboards” and technology is used for just about everything. Our very wise principal has said that whether we like it or not technology is the way our kids live, and when they go to school we should not be asking them to power down. The same applies to churches. I think the problem is fear, and I get that. So much of science and technology is used for evil-but churches and schools can demonstrate how to use it for good.
Number four is why it is so important that churches have thriving youth and college programs where young people can develop the relationships they treasure with other believers. The problem is trying to find the right people to lead them, people who are called to those age groups.
LikeLike
I tried for a long time to figure out a way that people in the congregation could ask me questions via their smart phones after a message. They could have texted me questions directly to my phone – or the way I preferred – they could have texted me questions that would have shown up on the large screens. While I would have been taking a risk to do this, I thought it was worthwhile to try it. But we couldn’t make the technology work … although I’m sure some churches are doing it somewhere.
Youth ministries cost lots of money, and then the kids leave for college and never return. When I lived in OC, I noticed that the students who went away to another state for college often “lost their faith” while the students who went to school locally and stayed in the church usually kept their faith and married Christians. Youth ministry is more of a challenge than its ever been – and because there are few professional youth leaders around who have good moral character. Thanks for writing!
LikeLike