Church Drop-outs: Why They Leave, Part 1

David Kinnaman

Recently a concerned mother approached me at a church where I'd spoken and told me a story, versions of which I hear often:

"My son announced that 'he can no longer believe in the Christian God.' He's walked away from the faith. He used to be involved in youth group, a worship band, family devotions, Christian conferences, evangelism . . . Now he wants nothing to do with it."

According to various reports and studies, young people are leaving the church at higher rates than ever before.

Just Google Christian leavers or Ex-Christians and you'll find plenty of troubling material.

Or read books and studies by Kinneman, Dyck, Campbell/Putnam, Clydesdale, Smith, Wright and others who document the "leavers" with extensive personal interviews.

So why is it happening? Why are so many young people dropping out, walking away, de-converting?

Conventional wisdom would say "moral compromise":

Sarah went off to college and started partying. Feeling guilty and hypocritical, she "changed her creeds to match her deeds." She no longer believes because faith in Christ doesn't fit her lifestyle.

And maybe that's part of the answer.

But according to a Christianity Today article* by Drew Dyck, many folks in their 20s and 30s leave the faith due to factors inside the church. 

He summarizes: "Most leavers had been exposed to a superficial form of Christianity that effectively inoculated them against authentic faith."

I agree with this assessment, and next week I'll offer my own theory on the matter.


* Subscription required to see the whole article

Equipping Teens for College: Part 6: Social and Racial Justice

I'd like to review my hopes for the "standard equipment" of first-year students when they arrive on campus. Ideally, they'd have these tools in the toolbox:

1. A big-picture overview of the Bible.
2. Inductive Bible study skills.
3. A basic gospel outline they can share with nonChristian friends.
4. A beginner's apologetic (see last week's post).
5. An awareness of social and racial justice.
   
   

This last item gets dicey because many evangelical churches are still under-developed on issues of race and justice.

Ironically, young people themselves often take the lead in this area, and it's the older generations -- say, 50 and up -- of which I'm a member, that are the true students (or at least we should be) of such matters.

Bottom line: I'm never surprised when a first-year college student demonstrates a basic intuition for issues of justice and race. It's in the DNA of this generation.

What does surprise, me however, is the occasional 18-year old student who arrives on campus with a theology* of justice and race in their toolbox. Now that's rare, indeed, and much to be prized.

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** Meaning, a broad biblical understanding of the topic. 

Equipping Teens for College, Part 5: A Beginner's Apologetic

On rare occasion a first-year student will bring to college an ability to articulate a basic "apologetic" for Christianity.

This is helpful not only for maintaining faith in a challenging collegiate environment, but for sharing faith with others, perhaps along these lines:

1) Origins: Why Christianity, not atheism, provides the best explanation for the origin of the universe and human life.

2) Gospels: Why the Gospel accounts of Jesus' life can be trusted.

3) Religious Pluralism: Why multiple religions cannot all be true in the same respect.

How to actually train kids in apologetics?

I have some practical ideas that I'll share some other time.

For now, I just want to get parents and Christian educators thinking about providing teenagers with some basic apologetic tools.

And when they arrive on campus for the first time, hand them off to a campus ministry such as Chi Alpha, Cru, Campus Outreach, the Navigators or InterVarsity.

We can take it from there.

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Starter books in apologetics:

• Letters from a Skeptic by Greg Boyd
• Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Kreeft and Tacelli 
• Faith is Like Skydiving (my book)

All available on Amazon.com.

See you next week.

I am at InterVarsity staff training in Madison, WI this week.