Blog

by Nathan Buck

It's no secret that young adults have been leaving congregations across the U.S. for some time. While certain mega-churches have attracted young adults with the many programs they offer, the decline is generally across the board. The reason for the decline is explained in 6 key areas that this study from Barna Research reveals.

I don't intend to unpack the study completely, so please read through it for context. I do want to connect this study to something important for followers of Jesus to consider. If you look across the 6 reasons listed, you may notice two rather glaring threads of consistency. The first thread is that ALL of these reasons for leaving are relational at their core. Yes, we can discount the "me" focused complaint, but we cannot dismiss the fact that these reasons for leaving stem from a relational disconnect. Essentially, these young adults are complaining there is no relational culture of "know and be known," which comes from cultivating attitudes and actions designed for understanding one another. The U.S. Church may have illusions of this with the coffee culture, informality, and small groups, but at the heart of community there are walls around truly being connected to one another on a personal level.

This shouldn't be a surprise when we look at young adults, who as a whole are trending more liberal than conservative. This is not because they are trending that way, but because the church has developed "systems" to grow church programs, without maturing people to be fully developed followers of Jesus. That takes one-on-one relationship, mentoring, and intentional investment in one another's lives – in short, relationships.

It may be easy to make excuses about the "cell phone" generation who cannot have an eyeball to eyeball conversation, but seriously, who allowed that to happen? Who allowed the internet and the media to become the primary sources of life learning and information for an entire generation? Where was the Church, when an entire generation of young people were being entertained into indoctrination of the world? The Church was busy clamoring for attention, building its platform to compete on an entertainment level to try and hold their attention. And the sad reality is, they saw the shallowness of the world's entertainment and the self-interested nature of worldly programming. They learned it, and now they see it clearly in the survival mode of the U.S. Church.

My hunch is that young adults long to see that the love and power of God is REAL. But, the mechanisms of the Western Church and the insecurity of Christians keep validating these 6 perspectives.

OUCH!! Does that strike a nerve? How can I say we are insecure? Well, aren't we? Think about it. Why do we need bigger shows on weekends and more programs to satiate attendee demands? Why are we concerned about declining numbers and closing church buildings? Why are we "raising money" for ministry from the people we should be ministering to? Why are we so uncomfortable disagreeing with someone and yet remaining a friend and loving them? Why are we unable to sit eyeball to eyeball, one-on-one, and invest in the life of someone who is trying to figure out what this whole Jesus thing is all about? Why do we act as if the life and the power of the Church originates in our creativity, consumer appeal, emotional experiences, or business strategies?

What if the Church demonstrated what we see in Acts? What if people being healed, addictions being broken, lives being completely changed, and demonstrations of God's power and presence were the norm in the Church? What if we stopped sensationalizing emotional experiences of "spiritual drunkenness," we stopped trying to win with our intellectual prowess, and we let God's true nature and power be seen? What if we fasted and prayed for our nation and our politics instead of bashing and complaining? What if we held our tongues, held out our hands, and with every ounce of strength we have, centered our attention on God's presence and purposes for each moment? Would we be debating the morality of our politics and obscuring good while pandering for political points? Would we be trying to make the institutional church survive? Would we be quibbling over these 6 reasons young people are leaving? 

Certainly not. This brings me to the second thread that is obvious in the 6 reasons: our culture is primed for a movement. In the midst of all the divisive rhetoric and vitriol, in the midst of the verbal jousting that covers for empathetic impotence, there is a longing for something to believe in. The surest sign from all the impotent chattering in our culture, and from all the disillusionment with the Church, is that people want someone or something to believe in. The harsh criticisms and the rhetoric have power because they expose the shortcomings and valid reasons to not trust your life to the cultural 'saviors' we have in politics and churches. 

So, how are we primed for a movement? The good news is that Jesus hasn't changed, and His power isn't diminished. The good news is we have an entire generation wired for one-on-one relationships and horizontal connections with their peers, like few times in human history. In this culture, if we would do what Paul entrusts Timothy with in 2 Timothy 2:2, we may see a shift we haven't seen for a very long time. We may see a true reviving of people through faith in Jesus Christ.

In that passage, there are four generations of believers represented - Paul to Timothy, Timothy to trustworthy learners, and trustworthy learners who teach others. This isn't just education and information. This is discipleship in the midst of sharing life together - intentionally growing in relationship and understanding with God, as we relate to one another. What Paul taught Timothy could not be done in a Sunday School class, or an hour a week in a classroom with a curriculum. This was in-the-trenches living with God and for God. That is something different than what our U.S. Church culture has been producing.

If you want to help turn the tide and light a match for God's movement in our culture, I highly recommend the tool Small Circle, created by Steve McCoy. Its available as a free app for Android or iOS, or as at-cost workbooks available from XChange.

The large gathering of believers has value, and small groups have value, but they cannot replace the necessity of fulfilling the Great Commission, face-to-face and side-by-side.

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