Augustine’s Confessions felt like reading my own journal at times. By becoming familiar with the Christian historical narrative, one quickly realizes that the “New Atheists” aren’t actually saying anything new at all and that the Biblical canon wasn’t simply decided upon at random. Studying Church history can help us develop a strong sense of what Dr. Duke calls our “intergenerational self.” Or, as Feiler puts it, we begin to understand that we’re part of something much bigger than ourselves.

Have you heard the news? Millennials are leaving the church. The “nones” are on the rise. Your child starting college this fall will almost certainly wander from the foldbefore reaching graduation four years from now. The end is nigh.

The reasons for this trend are varied and complex, but it’s true: Millennials are the least religiously-minded generation of all time. This rise in agnosticism is creating all sorts of anxiety for Christians—particularly evangelicals, and particularly evangelical parents. During my time working with church youth ministries, parents frequently pulled me aside, a look of hopeless desperation on their faces, wondering what they could do to make sure their child didn’t wander from the faith. As a pastor’s kid, I often have pastors with young children ask what my parents did to avoid scaring me away from Church.

Some churches have invented, um, creative ways to attract this young and restless generation back to the pews. I was speaking at a youth event a few years ago at a mega-mega-church, and when the worship band took to the stage, they replaced the classic hymns with a slightly Christianized version of an Eminem song, smoke machines and light show included. I couldn’t wait to leave.

As a recent college graduate, I often feel like I’m in the thick of it all, and I spend a lot of time contemplating the very real issue of my generation looking other places for meaning and truth. While I continue to hold onto traditional orthodox Christian beliefs, I, too, was on the verge of walking away from religion altogether not so long ago.

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