Where have all the young folk gone?

Chances are that if you are in your 20s or 30s, you are not hanging around a church.

Polling is now a highly sophisticated industry. A day never passes but important polling numbers are prominent in the morning paper, reported on the radio and seen on the television screen. People involved in politics live by the poll numbers. Product marketing is driven by polling data. Sociologists cannot get enough numbers to be completely happy. Polling is a growth industry.

Religious organizations are being fed some irrefutable information about what is happening among their constituents. The unwelcomed voice is that of God only if you believe God is a ventriloquist with a pollster sitting on her lap. The numbers are coming from pollsters and are not encouraging to churches and ministers who place a high priority on numbers. In a single generation, the Christian church dropout rate has increased five fold. I have cited polling numbers by the Barna Group several times in past columns. The Barna Group is now saying that 80 percent of the young people raised in a church will be “disengaged” before they are 30.

In the past 20 years, the number of American people who say they have no religion has doubled and has reached 15 percent. The numbers are concentrated in the under 30 population. More numbers are available and the polling organizations are delivering the same message. A dramatic exit is taking place from American Christian churches.

Denominations are all reporting loss of membership, but it is worse then they are reporting. Many churches report numbers based on baptized constituents. Actual Sunday morning body counts do not come close to the numbers being reported. Once baptized, always a reportable Christian! Mormons are dependent on birth rate, and that is slipping. Denominations are no longer a reliable source of membership information. The pollsters have become the truth tellers.

The mega-church movement has flattened. People are leaving as fast as they are being recruited. The only real growth movement among Christians is the home church phenomenon.

The numbers are in, but the debate about the reasons is just beginning. When a pollster asks if a person has left Christian faith and a church, the answer can be answered “yes” or “no.” When the pollster asks “Why?” the answers become mushy and the numbers lose their significance.

Why are people leaving churches so fast? I am not a pollster. I am an observer of the religious scene. My impressions are anecdotal and in no way scientific. I receive responses to the columns I write. I carry on e-mail conversations and have a steady flow of people who want to share their thoughts over breakfast, lunch or coffee.

I believe we church people and clergy need to look at ourselves for at least some of the reasons. I offer three observations.

Churches are no longer

intellectually challenging

More and more of our young people are college-educated, and in the future even more must and will accept the challenge of post-high school education. They are thinking people who are expanding the limits of their curiosity and knowledge. Our new crop of young people does not find the preaching and teaching of the church intellectually stimulating. They conclude that they are smarter than the person in the pulpit. Catechism is still used as a basic tool of Christian education. (Catechism is an educational method that provides both questions and correct answers.) Catechism, as an educational tool, is outdated and provides no challenge to students eager to question and discuss. Ministers must re-establish themselves among the leaders of the intellectual community.

Churches are no longer

leaders in moral and

ethical discussions

Young people have grown weary of churches, who cannot get past homosexuality and abortion. Our new crop of church dropouts is still very interested in alternatives to a selfish, hedonistic society. Justice is high on their agenda, and they are looking for opportunities for public service. Pizza parties and rock concerts are not high on their agenda. Our young people want to be involved in solving environmental problems and in peacemaking. Our churches are concerned about same-sex marriage at a time when the preacher should be talking about the unacceptability of war.

Churches are no

longer visionary

Churches are focused on saving souls for the next life. Church rituals are tied to perpetuating theologies that no longer seem relevant to our young people. Churches are no longer significant players in shaping the life of our communities. If our ministers and churches will not layout what the kingdom of God on earth might actually look like, our young people will look elsewhere to find their models.

I am not concerned about the young adults who are leaving. I am much more concerned about the churches they are leaving behind.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister. He lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.