p College Bound: Where Have All the Teen Agers Gone? Copyright by Norman Geisler 2010

The Basis for this Presentation Ken Ham and Britt Beemer, Already Gone. Barna and other noted professional surveys. Reviewed by the head of a professional counseling center. Reviewed by a Sunday School administrator. Based on 51 years experience in teaching teens and young adults.

I. What Do the Statistics Show? A. Sadly, 61% of once active evangelical teens are spiritually disengaged by their twenties. B. 80% are not as spiritually active as when they were teens (Barna [Jan 2000] survey of 22,000).* 1. 95% of these attended church regularly during elementary school % attended regularly during high school. 3. Only 11% went to church while in college. *A Similar Southern Baptist survey showed that 2/3 dropped out of church in their twenties.

Never Active Once Active, Left in Twenties Still Active

Never Active Once Active, Left in Twenties Still Active 8 out of 10 are Lost to the Church!

C. More sadly, the 61% drop-outs who attended church more regularly were more likely to: C. Sadly, the 61% of regular church attendees who attended Sunday school regularly were--

D. Sunday School influence: 1. Sadly, it added little or nothing to the development of a Christian worldview. 2. In many areas it hindered the spiritual growth of the young people! a. 48 % non-attendees believe premarital sex was wrong while only 41% of attendees believed it was wrong! b. Only 19% non-attendees believed God used evolution to create humans while 25% of attendees believed it! E. How many plan to return to Church Later? (when they have children)

E. How many plan to return to Church Later? Sadly, of the 38% who plan to return later-- a. 24% don’t believe all the Bible is inspired of God. b. 42% don’t believe all Bible stories are true.

F. The top ten reasons teens say they left the church: 1. Boring service (12%) 2. Legalism (12%) 3. Hypocrisy of Leaders (11%) 4. Too Political (10%) 5. Self-righteous people (9%) 6. Distance from home (7%) 7. Not relevant to personal growth (6%) 8. God would not condemn anyone to hell (6%) 9. Bible is not relevant/practical (5%) 10. Couldn’t find preferred church in area (5%) G. The real reason—disbelief in the Bible—62% did not believe that all the accounts in the Bible are true. *Based on survey of 1000 evangelicals in their twenties of major protestant denominations from coast to coast balanced by gender and population (America’s Research Group in Ken Ham, Already Gone, 2009).

H. Why Did They Begin to Doubt the Bible?

I. When did their doubts about the Bible begin? 1. Grade School—4% 2. Middle School—40% 3. High School—44% 4. College—Only 11% Notes: 1.Departure was in college, but doubt began in late grade school and middle school (4 th -8 th grades). 2.Barna surveys show most have fixed beliefs by age % admit that what they learned in school caused them to doubt the Bible (It is probably higher). 4.60% admit being taught evolution is true in high school. 5.80% admit their college professors had an ungodly influence on the students. 6.90% of church young people go to public schools.

Can We Stop the Exodus?

Outline I. What Do the Statistics Show? II. What Can We Do to Reverse the Trend? A. What Can the Church do? 1. Stop entertaining them and start training them. a. Start feeding the sheep, and— b. Stop entertaining the goats! 2. Eliminate hypocrisy and legalism. a. Don’t just teach it but live it. b. Keeping rules doesn’t gain favor with God (we work from grace not for it). 3. Stop apologizing for the problem and start teaching apologetics as a solution to the problem. 4. Reform Sunday School and youth programs.

I.What Do the Statistics Show? II.What Can We Do to Reverse the Trend? A. What Can the Church do? B. What Can Parents do? 1. Home school their children. 2. Send their children to a good Christian School. 3. Send them to a good Christian College. 4. Control the TV and IPods. From ages 5 to 17 the average child gets— a. An average 16, 000 hrs of TV (double w/ Ipods) b. About 10,000 hours in a school classroom. c. Only 800 hours of Christian education! Do the math! The odds are about 33 to 1.

Hours Children Watch TV “Children in the United States watch an average of three to four hours of television a day. By the time of high school graduation, they will have spent more time watching television than they have in the classroom. ”* (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology— 5/4/10). 3 hours a day = 14,196 hours in 13 years of school 4 hours a day = 18,928 hours Average = 16,000 *Public schools spend 22 hours per week on core curriculum = 4.4 hours per day for the school year (National Center of Education Statistics, Feb 1997) times 180 days (US Dept of Ed. Average) = 792 hours (x 13 years = 10,296).

IPod, TV, and Twitter Uses by Teens: 9 ½ Hours Daily “The average young American now spends practically every waking minute — except for the time in school — using a smart phone, computer, television or other electronic device, according to a new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Those ages 8 to 18 spend more than seven and a half hours a day with such devices…. And that does not count the hour and a half that youths spend texting, or the half-hour they talk on their cell phones…. A 14-year-old Bronx eighth grader… uses his smart phone to …send or receive about 500 texts a day. [They ] found that more than 7 in 10 youths have a TV in their bedroom, and about a third have a computer with Internet access in their bedroom.” (“If Your Kids Are Awake, They’re Probably Online” by Tamar Lewin [Jan 20, 2010] based on a survey of more than 2,000 students in grades 3 to 12 that was conducted from October 2008 to May 2009).

I. What Can We Do to Reverse the Trend? A. What Can the Church do? B. What Can Parents do? 1. Build good relationships with your children. 2. Home school your children. 3. Send your children to a Christian School. 4. Send them to a good Christian College. 5. Control the TV and IPods: from ages 5 to 17 the average child gets— a. Average 16, 000 of TV b. About 10,000 in classroom c. Only 800 hours of Christian education C. If they go to a public school, then make sure they are being trained elsewhere in apologetics— 1. At home from late grade school on. 2. At church from late grade school on. 3. In a campus group or college church. 4. By reading good books on the topic.

Seven Important Things to Do 1.Pray. It’s never too late. God can beat the odds.

It’s Never Too Late to Pray “The Family that prays together, stays together”

Eight Important Things to Do 1.Pray. It’s never too late. God can beat the odds. 2.Train your child in the Christian life and doctrine and live it consistently before them. 3.Help them cultivate good friends (peer pressure is a strong force on teens). 4.If possible, keep them out of the public schools and secular colleges. 5.Control their exposure to TV, IPods, the internet, and contemporary music. 6.Train them from in apologetics from late grade school (4 th grade—9yrs old) on. 7.Send them to good Christian camps that train them in apologetics (like Summit Ministries). 8.Provide them with good books and DVDs on apologetics.

Good Books on Apologetics for College Age General How to Stay Christian in College, Jay Budziszewski Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis. I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Geisler and Turek. Bible: The Reliability of the Gospels, Craig Blomberg. General Introduction to the Bible, Geisler and Nix The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, Geisler and Howe. Ethics The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis. Christian Ethics, Geisler. Relativism Feet Planted Firmly in Mid-Air, Koukle and Beckwith. True for You but Not for Me, Paul Copan. Science The Design of Life, Dembski and Wells. Darwin on Trial, Philip Johnson. Miracles and the Modern Mind, Geisler. Other Religions Neighboring Faiths, Corduan.

p College Bound: Where Have All the Teen Agers Gone?

They Have Left the Church

Never Active Once Active, Left in Twenties Still Active How Many Have Left?

Why Did They Leave?—Doubt in the Bible!

How Can We Stop the Bleeding? Teach Apologetics— Teach Apologetics— beginning in grade school and-- beginning in grade school and-- continuing on through college continuing on through college

Why Apologetics “Set apart the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give a reason (Gk. apologia) for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). “I am put here for the defense of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:7). “Let your speech be always gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Col. 4:6). “I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). “Set apart the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give a reason (Gk. apologia) for the hope that is in you with meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15). “I am put here for the defense of the Gospel” (Phil. 1:7). “Let your speech be always gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Col. 4:6). “I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

C. S. Lewis on Why Apologetics? "To be ignorant and simple now--not to be able to meet the enemies on their ground--would be to throw down our weapons, and to betray our uneducated brethren who have, under God, no defense but us against the intellectual attacks of the heathen. Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered.” (The Weight of Glory, 50)

Appendix 1: Time Spent in Sunday School At 1 hour a week for 50 weeks = 50 hrs. per year for 13 years (K-12) = 650 hours during youth If years ages 2-4 (150 more hrs.) are included = 800 total hours in Sunday School. Note: Probably only half of this is spent in lessons (= 400 hours of life spent in Sunday School study).

Appendix 2: Christian High School Grads What Percent remain active in church after graduation? Emporium Christian Schools % Data on other schools not available (It is presumed to be lower) ??. Note: Key factor is that religious beliefs are fixed by age 13 (8 th grade) before they attend high school.

Appendix 3: Barna Religious Survey 1. Only 19% of evangelical Christians have a Christian world view. 2. Only 51 of evangelical pastors have a Christian world view. 3. Only 9% of Americans have a Christian world view. 4. Only 8% claim to be evangelical (down 12% in the last ten years) % Americans claim to be “born again.” 6. 41% claim the Bible is “totally accurate.” 7. 70% say God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and perfect. 8.Only 27% believe Satan is real. 9.Most children’s morals are in place by 9 years of age. 10.Most children’s religious beliefs are fixed by age 13.