I have noticed over the past forty years a problem in our churches when it comes to our kids. We are losing them! When they get old enough to leave, they’re gone. We scratch our heads and try to figure out what went wrong. We have taught them the Bible in Sunday School, MasterClub/Awana/Patch Club, at youth group, and emphasize it at the church.

In all honesty I’ve seen the worst and best case scenarios. Worst case is when SS or Youth group is considered glorified babysitting while the adults do the important stuff. An attitude of, “Really, it’s not that important, is it?” Furthermore, there is no curriculum or even a basic plan as to what should be covered over the year(s). The best case scenario is when there is a SS curriculum in place and it’s followed by gifted, dedicated teachers.

OK, so we’ve done the best we could do. It’s those evil colleges and universities that are destroying our kids faith! Must we therefore stand and speak against higher education? In fact, 25% of those who’ve left have said that “Christianity is anti-science.” Furthermore, our young people who do go to the university may seem like outcasts or apostates. Nearly 25% of the 18- to 29-year-olds interviewed said “Christians demonize everything outside of the church”

It is true that colleges and universities are anti-Christian. “Nearly three-quarters” (72%) of faculty members describe themselves as politically liberal, according to 1999 data from the North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS), up from 39 percent in a 1984 survey by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.”

About 25% of college professors are professing atheists or agnostics (5-7% of the general population is atheistic or agnostic). Only 6% of college professors said the Bible is “the actual word of God”. 51% described it as “an ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.” 75% believe religion does not belong in public schools.

So the colleges are an influence for evil (true), and many professors are evil (true) so that’s why we lose our kids! (false). Church youth already are “gone” in their hearts and minds in elementary, middle and high school – not in college as many assume. When polled about the importance of religious beliefs and church attendance we find the following:

63% of 13- to 15-year-olds answered “very important,” compared to 52% of 16- to 17-year-olds. Church attendance also drops during the teen and young adult years and begins to climb as adults age. Fifty-four percent of teens aged 13 to 15 reported having attended church in the past seven days, as did 51% of 16- to 17- year-old teens. The figure drops [most likely due to the end of parental compelling- mine] to 32% among 18- to 29- year-olds but rises again to 44% among 50- to 64- year-olds and 60% among those aged 75 and older.

So 70% will leave the faith in college. Only 35% eventually return. 52% of college students reported frequent church attendance the year before they entered college but only 29% continued frequent church attendance by their junior year. So they start to drift away while in church and the first chance they get, they’re gone!

Now let’s get to why they are leaving. Far and away it’s the inability to defend the faith.

“In this very early study, Tom Bisset interviewed people and asked them when, why, and how they abandoned their faith. He identified four prominent reasons:

1. They left because they had troubling, unanswered questions about the faith. 2. They left because their faith was not “working” for them. 3. They left because they allowed other things to take priority. 4. They left because they never personally owned their faith.”

In another poll the question was raised, “Why did they fall away from the faith in which they were raised? This was an open-ended question, there were no multiple-choice answers. 32% said they left faith behind because of intellectual skepticism or doubt. (‘It didn’t make any sense anymore.’ ‘Some stuff is too far-fetched for me to believe.’ ‘I think scientifically and there is no real proof.’ ‘Too many questions that can’t be answered.’)”

Pew Research found that about 50% said a “lack of belief led them to move away from religion. This includes many respondents who mention ‘science’ as the reason they do not believe in religious teachings, including one who said ‘I’m a scientist now, and I don’t believe in miracles.’ Others reference ‘common sense,’ ‘logic’ or a ‘lack of evidence’ – or simply say they do not believe in God.”

Creation Ministries International’s research sums it up by saying, “The presence or absence of doubt was found to be the single best predictor of Christian affiliation and spiritual health, compared to several hundred other factors.” They went on to say, “Our interviews show unequivocally that the majority of young people who were not exposed to creation teaching in their youth now embrace evolution and no longer attend church. CMI concludes “it is the intellectual challenges that are not being properly addressed. So, if we want to reach our young people, we need to answer their questions—the very questions they will get during higher education. This will help them to see that the Bible’s history is true, beginning in Genesis, which is the foundational book for the Christian faith itself.”

What to do? CMI offers this hope, “every student we spoke to who was equipped with answers as a young person still retains their Christian convictions, in spite of the evolutionary teaching they received in higher education. Better still, every single student we spoke to who affirmed biblical creation still attends church regularly.”

I personally believe that the church needs to lead the way in Scientific Apologetics (creationism) and Historical Apologetics (evidentialism). Since “ the internet factored heavily into their conversion to atheism,” maybe we, as church leaders, need to show our kids websites that are pro-Christianity. Of course, we need to be able to oversee this since I don’t know of many sites that are KJB, so it’ll take some work. Of course, parents continue to be the single greatest influence on their children’s faith., either for keeping them in the faith or being patient and supportive while they await the return of their prodigal.