You Lost Me
The Barna Group is a Protestant polling group. I would encourage all elders, preachers, Bible class teachers and every interested Christian to subscribe to the Barna Group’s weekly newsletter. They share their surveys and polls free of charge. They keep their thumb on the pulse of the American people, particularly regarding spiritual matters and religion. You would benefit from their research.
For example, their president, David Kinnaman, has published a book (2011) You Lost Me. Why Young Christians are Leaving Church …And Rethinking Faith. This book, as you might tell from the title, is a book about the so-called millennial generation – late teens through 20s.
In Kinnaman’s introduction, he says forthrightly, “we need to help them live in-but-not-of lives” (pg. 15; emph. in orig.). That’s exactly what Jesus prayed, isn’t it? “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:14-17).
Jesus gives us the solution to the dropout problem – the truth. Parents, youth ministers, Bible class teachers, elders, and preachers all need to be focused on teaching our children to pursue truth. It begins with the recognition that there must be absolute truth. I am here. Where did I originate? The answer to that question must conform to reality, to everything we know to be true. Truth is what “conforms to reality.”
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Kinnaman agrees with this assessment based on 5,000 interviews that went in to the writing of this book. “The dropout problem is, at its core, a faith-development problem; to use religious language, it’s a disciple-making problem. The church is not adequately preparing the next generation to follow Christ faithfully in a rapidly changing culture” (21; emph. in orig.).
From those 5,000 interviews, Kinnaman and his team of researchers have divided the millennials into three groups, based on where they are in relationship to Christianity. There are the nomads, who leave Christianity as an “organized religion” but still consider themselves Christians. Prodigals are those who have, for practical purposes, lost their faith and no longer feel like Christians. (This is the rarest of the group, pg. 27.) Then there are the exiles, those who still have an interest in the Christian faith but feel lodged between church and culture.
Before getting further into the details of the book, still in the first chapter, Kinnaman offers suggestions on what these millennials are missing: relationships, vocation, and wisdom. Relative to relationships, Kinnaman renews the call for intergenerational churches and worship. When it comes to the question of vocation, he brings to our attention the sense that millennials do not see a connection between Christianity and their secular lives and dreams. Finally, young millennial Christians lack the depth of knowledge that leads to wisdom.
With these simple thoughts in mind, I propose that we utilize our older generation more in our devotionals and classes with our teens. Older white-collar and blue-collar Christians (male and female) need to share with teenagers how Christianity does influence their job choices and work experiences. We also need to have older Christians who have experienced the early death of a spouse, the death of a child, the loss of a job, or divorce share with teenagers how Christ, Christianity, and the church sustained them through those crises.
With some insight and wisdom, we can keep our millennials faithful to the Lord and in His church.
–Paul Holland
