SOME STATISTICS If you were going to dropout from attending church, I’d like for you to write down the first few reasons that come to mind. Christian teens are “LEAVING THE CHURCH”; are now “SPIRITUALLY DISENGAGED”; “young adults STOP ATTENDING church REGULARLY”; “CHURCH WASN’T ESSENTIAL TO THEIR LIVES”; “Religion is NOT A BIG DEAL to them.” Think about your youth ministry over the past 3-4 years; Are the kids who are now ages a “black hole” in your church attendance? Write down the name of one or two or even three young adults who fit the profile just discussed. If young adults in their 20s are “missing in action” from your congregation, take a moment to discuss at your table/seating area with two others why—what do you believe could be the cause even the most committed attenders to bottom out during the beginning of adulthood?

SOME STATISTICS 40-50% of kids who graduate from a church or youth group will fail to stick with their faith in college. How does it make you feel to know that every other kid in your youth group will be a dropout? 80% of the kids leaving our churches and ministries intended to stick with their faith but didn’t.

Rainer’s (2008) 1. Simply wanted a break from church (27% stated this attitude). 2. Church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical. 3. Moved to college and stopped attending. 4. Work responsibilities prevented me from attending 5. Moved too far away from the church to continue attending. 6. Became too busy though still wanted to attend. 7. Didn’t feel connected to the people in my church. 8. Disagreed with the church’s stance on political or social issues. 9. Chose to spend more time with friends outside the church. 10. Was only going to church to please others. Bisset (1992) 1) they have troubling, unanswered questions about their faith, 2) their faith isn’t working for them, 3) other things in life become more important than their faith, and 4) they never personally owned their own faith. Benton (1982) If parents (1) do not know their world, (2) if they lose patience with them, (3) or are not real with them, (4) are not living the Christian life themselves, and (5) are not instilling a sense of hope for the future. Laurent (1988) 1. Lack of opportunity for church involvement (75%) 2. Negative media influence (TV, rock music, movies) 2. Negative media influence (TV, rock music, movies) 3. Poor relationship with parents 4. Low self-esteem 5. Poor relationship with youth pastor 6. Negative peer influence 7. Authoritarianism in parents 8. The struggle for emancipation from parents 9. Negative concept of religion 10. Lack of family harmony

SOME STATISTICS “Faith departures are NOT ACCIDENTAL or random events. People who walk away from faith in God do so for SPECIFIC reasons”

Deuteronomy 6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the L ORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the L ORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the L ORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel: The L ORD our God, the L ORD is one. 5 Love the L ORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Judges 1 7 The people served the L ORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had seen all the great things the L ORD had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the L ORD, died at the age of a hundred and ten. 9 And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Heres in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. 10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the L ORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the L ORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the L ORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the L ORD ’s anger 13 because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. 14 In his anger against Israel the L ORD gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. 15 Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the L ORD was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress. Ps 78:1-8 My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They would not be like their ancestors—a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.

I WOULD LIKE TO SUGGEST (1) The dropout problem is a naturally inherited problem from our spiritual grandparents. (2) The dropout problem is not just a youth problem, but an entire church problem. (3) Young adults might be leaving for good reasons. Be missionaries to our youth in their culture!

NOTE There isn’t ONE factor when we research the dropout problem or faith defection. Problem: young adults, after graduating High School are (1) not interested in keeping up the habit of attending church, (2) have much their spiritual energy fade, and (3) lack a faith that is consequential.

NOTE The greatest influences in young adult lives are those of adults, most specifically, the parents.

YOUNG ADULTS: DROPO UT? TECHNOL OGY IDOLS CHURCH WARS: TRAD VS. EMERG WEAK PASTORIN G INCOMPLE TE CONVERSI ONS “FAKE” CHRISTIA N PARENTS POOR YM EXPERIEN CE FAST- PACED CULTURE LATE BRAIN DEVELOP’ T

YOUNG ADULTS: DROPO UT? LACK INTIMACY CHURCH ILLUSION QUESTION AUTHORIT Y INCOMPLE TE HALF ALIVE STILLBOR N FUN- BASED CULTURE CAUGHT LATE BRAIN DEVELOP’ T

YOUNG ADULTS : DROPO UT? TECH CHURCH PASTOR S CONVER SION PARENT S YM CULTUR E BRAIN