56% of American teenagrs say they attend church-related activities two or more times a month (Barna1). While that is an encouraging statistic, a study on "twentysomethings", conducted by the Barna Group, reports that there are 8,000,000 twenty to twenty-nine year olds in our country today who were active churchgoers as teenagers, but will no longer be attending a church by age 30 (Barna2). Barna's reports indicate that there is a 66% drop in church attendance for 18 to 29 year olds. This is indeed a significant decrease in church attendance for this age group. In fact, another study indicates that only 33% of teens attending church report that God and church will play a role in their lives once they are on their own. This loss equates to about 800,000 youth leaving the church between their junior year in high school and their sophomore year in college.
When we lose 1, we lose 1,000
Losing one of our youth affects many more lives because these lost students will no longer have a positive influence on those around them.
Isaiah 60:22 says, "The least of you will become 1,000, the smallest a mighty nation. I am the Lord; in its time I will do this swiftly."
This generational compounding of the loss is staggering and is one of the primary reasons that the church in Europe declined so rapidly 50 years ago. Many in youth ministry fear we are witnessing the same decline here. The outcome may be seeing many church buildings become virtually empty, like they are in Europe, in the next 15 to 20 years.
The question that must be asked is: Are they lost or only taking a break from church? According to David Kinnaman, Vice President of Barna Group Research, "the real issue is how the church will respond to the faithquakes that are reverberating through our nation's young adults. The notion that these people will return to the church when they get older or once they become parents is only true in a minority of cases. If we simply wait for them to come back to the church later in adulthood, not only will most of those people never return, but also we would miss the chance to alter their life trajectory during a critical phase." (Barna 3)
According to Jeff Schadt, Executive Director of Youth Transitions Network (YTN), "When we lose our youth, we lose their future potential and we squander the influence they should have had on the world around them. It is during these crucial years that patterns of behavior are shaped apart from parental influence. It is in this time frame that students select their careers, lifestyles and often spouses. If they do this apart from the Lord, the decisions they make will be devoid of His leadership. As a result, these decisions often carry life-long consequences, even if they return to the Lord later in life."
As a church, we must consider Jesus' command to protect His sheep and His teaching to pursue just one that has gone astray. Barna's research shows over 8 million lost sheep in their twenties.
"Be Prepared Sessions"