USA TODAY: Young adults aren't sticking with church

From .danimal

In today's issue of USATODAY, there is a report on a recent survey from LifeWay Research - the core of the study is this:

Seventy percent of Protestants  — both evangelical and mainline — age 18 to 30 drop out of church before age 23 and give multiple reasons for their departure.  34% of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church.

It's instructive to look at why they hit the exit:

• Wanted a break from church: 27%

• Found church members judgmental or hypocritical: 26%

• Moved to college: 25%

• Tied up with work: 23%

• Moved too far away from home church: 22%

• Too busy: 22%

• Felt disconnected to people at church: 20%

• Disagreed with church's stance on political/social issues: 18%

• Spent more time with friends outside church: 17%

• Only went before to please others: 17%

People who became de-churched were more than twice as likely than those who continued attending church to describe church members as judgmental (51% for dropouts, 24% for those who stayed), hypocritical (44% vs. 20%) or insincere (41% vs. 19%)

Contrast this with the reasons cited by the 30% who kept attending church:

• It's vital to my relationship with God: 65%

• It helps guide my decision in everyday life: 58%

• It helps me become a better person: 50%

• I am following a family member's example: 43%

• Church activities were a big part of my life: 35%

• It helps in getting through a difficult time: 30%

• I fear living without spiritual guidance: 24%

The sense that all is right with American churchianity, that nothing is broke - well, that simply seems like a generation of people deciding to stick their head in the sand.

From MyklR

All the hype of mega this & growth that, of programs and preaching rock stars - well it brings to mind a quote from an English man who himself was dechurched - Eric Arthur Blair (better know by his pen name George Orwell):

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."

The article closes with this:

"Unless religious leaders take younger adults more seriously, the future of American religion is in doubt," says Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow in After the Baby Boomers, due in stores in September.