Toledo Faith & Values

VIEWPOINTS: Why do you think some faith groups are losing young adults?

David Yonke | Sep 11, 2012 | Comments (3)

Mainline churches are losing young adults for years, and a study by FaithCommunitiesToday.org finds that evangelical Christian churches are also losing young adults. What do you think is the main reason that young adults are not attending church as often as they did in the past?

From 2008 to 2010 the average percentage of participants over 65 increased slightly, and the average percentage of 18-34 year olds continued to decline.

Topics: Faith, Clergy & Congregations
Beliefs: Christian - Catholic, Christian - Orthodox, Christian - Protestant/Other, Interfaith
Tags: church attendance, church demographics, church membership, declining church membership, young adults

Comments

PastorLuke | Sep 12, 2012 | 10:48am

The church can’t move as fast as young adults can. With social media, we can find spiritually nourishing resources and like-minded friends and these things can move much quicker than church communities.

That is one reason. I don’t think there is a “main reason.” It’s a factor of many things. Dogmatic and doctrinal stances and pat answers are another. Busier and more demanding schedules are another. Relaxed social expectations are yet another.
David Yonke | Sep 12, 2012 | 4:15pm

Thank you, pastor, I appreciate your comments. I agree there’s no one “main reason” but a multitude of factors that are causing this.
Bill | Sep 29, 2012 | 8:37am

I think there are a couple of things that contribute to our losing young people in the church. One is we have kept young people sequestered away from “adult” church for most of their lives ...nursery, ( which I am in favor) kids church, and then youth group, which is usually more fun and games than spiritual. How do you transition from high activity to listening to sermons?
My biggest concern is how we present to them ” church.” is it a place we go to? A building? An organization? Is it supposed to be entertaining? A place to sit and watch and listen the professionals? I think we have a better chance of holding onto our young people if we let them know they are ” the church” and the church is not an organization but it is an organism…alive. We teach them to pray or the sick or the hurting. We teach them to feed the poor…teach how we are connected to Jesus, the Head of the Church. It is not a building we go to…a meeting here we sing songs and hear sermons…it is who we are in Jesus…His body. We are the Church…not we got to church…just me two cents.