With only minutes to spare, a young man in a black and white jacket and jeans conducts his hustle among a crowd gathered at a bus stop near 38th and Oxford streets.
“Would you like to buy a CD player?” he asks with the enthusiasm of a car salesman.
After everyone politely declines the offer, his attention turns toward people at a nearby restaurant. Going to a church appears to be the furthest thing from the mind of this young man, who gives his name as Danny Tait.
The 19-year-old says matter-of-factly, “I’m not at any church right now. I just don’t have time. I’m doing my own stuff.”
Is that “stuff” more important than church involvement?
“It is at the moment,” Tait says, without elaborating. “If they had more things in the week maybe I could do something.”
Standing with a group of classmates from a nearby school, A’yanah Aby said she enjoys going to her family’s Church of the Living God congregation and likes the preacher.
“But sometimes they can talk too long and it can get boring,” said Aby, 13. “We need someone there who’s young and we can relate to.”
Junior Smith, 19, likes to attend Sunday services at a local Baptist church. As with Aby, however, there is still something lacking from his church experience.
“They don’t have a lot for people our age,” he said. “We’re supposed to have a youth minister, but we don’t see very much of him.”
The concerns of Tait, Aby and Smith reflect those of many teens and young adults nationwide who are unfulfilled at church.
Recent statistics have highlighted what appears to be a growing disconnect between young people and organized religion, particularly the church as an institution.
Nearly 60 percent of young people ages 15-29 have left active involvement in a church, according to results from the latest survey conducted by The Barna Group, a non-partisan research firm based in California. (See survey results below)
“We needed to find out why young Christians so often walk away from their faith. In some ways, it’s been happening for decades, but in another way, it’s brand new,” said David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group, and author of the new book, You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church and Rethinking Faith.
“Today’s young people have a more diverse set of friends, in terms of ethnicity, sexuality and faith, than generations before them,” Kinnaman said. “Many of them see the church as being exclusive, and therefore being out of step.”
Kinnaman added that an increasing number of young people outside the church believe it has become too judgmental about certain sins, such as homosexuality, and elevate them above other sins such as adultery and Internet pornography addiction.
“This generation is more concerned with being fair than right,” Kinnaman added. “They want the beliefs that they hold to seem fair, and they want to maintain good relationships with others.”
C.J. Neal, a youth minister in Indianapolis, noted that many young people, even some inside the church, grow up without the truth about Christianity.
“As adults we assume that because a kid comes up in church that they can answer basic questions about the Christian faith, but that’s not always the case,” he said. “They might know, for example, that Jesus died on the cross. But they can’t say why he had to do it. They don’t know why we need a savior.”
Neal is a local director for Campus Crusade for Christ, a national ministry that provides programs and mentors for high school and college age youth. Neal and his wife Anika conduct activities at Arlington, Shortridge and Lawrence Central high schools.
Neal once spoke with a teen who said he encouraged a friend to get an abortion because he thought having a baby out of wedlock is a sin.
“I told him having the baby is not a sin, but what was done to get it was wrong because that activity was outside of marriage,” Neal said. “He said he thought in Christianity that sex in marriage is a sin too. Before I could respond another young man said he also used to believe that. This is not an isolated situation. There is a general misconception by young people on where their faith stands.”
Despite the negative trend shown by some statistics, youth ministers and experts remain hopeful that creative ways can be found to engage more young people. Kinnaman said doing that in today’s society is difficult for many churches, but it can be done.
“There is an amazing opportunity to help young people live faithfully in ‘exile’ – to be like Daniel – to be in the world but not of the world.”
The National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (NFCYM) announced that Facebook participation for its National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) held in Indianapolis this week has exceeded expectations. The number of Facebook “likes” for the conference surpassed the 5,500 goal during the summer.
“We had no idea we would surpass that goal so soon before the conference,” said Kathy Carver, associate director of NFCYM. “It’s really a demonstration of the power social media is playing in our ability to help youth in our country proclaim their faith.”
In addition to more use of social media, church leaders must also assess the way that they address youth, said Brigette Lynn, a local volunteer with the Impact Movement, a nationwide ministry launched in 1991 that uses college events, conferences and mission trips to reach African-American youth and young adults.
“Ministries for youth have to be tailored to their interests and needs,” Lynn said. “Far too often we make the mistake of deciding what they need, instead of asking them, and listening and acting accordingly.”
Neal believes ministries should increase direct interaction with young people.
“We really need to engage in conversation with students, and find out where they really are,” he said. “The key word is discipleship – it needs to be done more on a one on one basis.”
Straying from the church
A survey taken by The Barna Group, a non-partisan research firm, included more than 4,000 teenagers, young adults, youth pastors and senior pastors. The survey showed reasons given for straying from the church included:
• “God is missing from my church experience.”
• “Christians demonize everything outside the church.”
• “Church is usually boring.”
• “The church ignores real world problems.”
• “Appears to be at odds with science.”
• “Seems overly concerned about the impact of movies, music and video games.”
• “Raises intellectual doubts.”
• “Appears too judgmental about certain topics and people of other faiths.”
