Thankfully, the Bible’s teaching on sex—from Eden to Sodom to Corinth—is neither simplistic nor shallow. It addresses homosexuality, prostitution, lust, rape. The Scriptures go beyond abstinence slogans. And they provide a framework for young people to understand pleasure, selflessness, and redemption. The church must boldly teach a full, Biblical understanding of human sexuality.

Young Christians, from Eutychus on, have often been less-than-enthralled by church.

So, when a new study on religion and the next generation is published (like the September 28 data from the Barna Group) church members and leaders alike are inclined to shrug it off.

Who has the heart to read dire statistics about how the church is failing people under the age of 30 yet again?

The recent Barna Group study, which surveyed 1, 296 young people aged 18-29, focuses on the lives of Christians who grew up in the church but later chose to leave.

Reluctance to read about it is understandable. The web article’s very title, “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave the Church,” is depressing.

Then there’s our fear that the research will show today’s young people to be radically different, unreachable by the rest of us.

And if gloominess and edginess weren’t reason enough to avoid it, reading the statistics will certainly also resurrect a perennial church tension: how do we respond to opinions without sacrificing convictions?

Some of the statistics aren’t pretty, of course. (The five-year study by Barna Group found that 59% of those surveyed left the church for an extended period after age 15.)

But Christians, especially evangelicals, should read it anyway. In doing so, we can see where the church didn’t fail, where it did, and what we can do about it.

Not Our Fault
It would be nice if the research, which aggregated the results of eight national studies, reported that young Christians were delighted with all aspects of the church.

In reality, they’ve got complaints. For example, 31% say “church is boring,” and 24% say “faith is not relevant to my career or interests.”

But these complaints (and the study contains many) are not unusual.

The data is included in a new book by Barna Group president, David Kinnaman, titled: You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church. . .and Rethinking Faith. The book proposes six major themes that emerged from the research. One of them is that participants “wrestle with the exclusive nature of Christianity.”

This is drawn in part from the fact that 29% said “churches are afraid of the beliefs of other faiths” and the same percentage who said Christianity forces them to “choose between my faith and my friends.”

This is not new at all. Christ himself is a “stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” and those who would pursue religion apart from exclusive loyalty to Him are guaranteed to trip. (Romans 9:30-33)

Christianity demands radical, father-and-mother-forsaking, cross-bearing, persecution-accepting allegiance to Christ alone. Ours is a religion of narrow gates and few followers. For some people, this will never be appealing.

And it is not the church’s fault when they leave.

Accept Blame
Several of the other themes arising from the study reveal that young Christians are aware of important questions and expect honest answers. These unanswered questions are the church’s problem.

Kinnaman says young Christians generally express “the church feels unfriendly to those who doubt,” and 36% of the participants felt they could not “ask my most pressing life questions in church.”

22% of those who were surveyed say the “church [is] ignoring the problems of the real world.”

It is clear from these statistics that young people as a whole would like to have greater connection between the teaching in the church and the issues in their lives.

And it is quite possible that we have failed to do this. In fact, if young people think there is a problem here, there is; they are not receiving thorough, meaningful, serious answers to their questions.

This is the church’s fault.

Fix It
Our failure acknowledged, reading the data can now illuminate our repair efforts.

In the introduction to his book, Kinnaman says: “the way we develop young people’s faith. . .is inadequate for the issues, concerns and sensibilities of the world we ask them to change for God.”

Perhaps. As long as we understand that the church can find this adequacy in the Bible.

In the Scriptures, we find substantial answers to the questions of every new generation. And this can fix the disconnect between young Christians and the church.

The Barna Group further explains: “teens and twentysomething Christians are struggling to live meaningful lives in terms of sex and sexuality.” Young people report that their experiences in church relating to sex are “often simplistic, judgemental.”

Thankfully, the Bible’s teaching on sex—from Eden to Sodom to Corinth—is neither simplistic nor shallow. It addresses homosexuality, prostitution, lust, rape. The Scriptures go beyond abstinence slogans.

And they provide a framework for young people to understand pleasure, selflessness, and redemption. The church must boldly teach a full, Biblical understanding of human sexuality.

Young Christians interviewed in the study also felt “tension. . .between Christianity and science.” A full 25% say: “Christianity is anti-science.”

Does the Bible have something to say about the world’s origins? Emphatically yes. But, it also gives meaning to creation and our responsibilities toward humans, animals, and natural resources.

Adam and Noah and Solomon are our teachers, and their divinely-directed lives even say something about green living. More than that, the Bible enables us to relate faith to sight and appreciate the Creator through studying His creation.

We can take every question about earth or eternity to the true and living Word. At no point is the Bible inadequate. The church must rigorously and prayerfully teach the Bible, and, in this way, we can welcome again the next generation.

The data helps us see what to discuss, write, teach. The Scriptures provide unfailingly rich answers.

Sources:
Kinnaman, David with Aly Hawkins. You Lost Me: Why Young Christians Are Leaving Church. . .and Rethinking Faith. Baker, Grand Rapids. 2011.
Barna Group. “Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church.” 28 September, 2011.

Megan Hill is 32 years old. She grew up in the PCA and has no intentions of leaving. She and her mom write a blog at www.SundayWomen.com