Why Are Our Young People Leaving The Church?

Why are we losing 60% – 80% of our young people

As soon as they graduate from high school?

By Carl O. Cooper

            I recently attended a lectureship at the Florida School of Preaching. And during a speech at the banquet it was said that we are losing 60% – 80% of our young people from the church as soon as they graduate from high school. And even though I knew about this mass exodus from the church by our young people, this information suddenly struck home with me and I felt extremely guilty. What have we done as a church to cause this? And what have I done? And better yet, what have we failed to do? Ever since this event, this information has weighed heavily on my mind and on my conscience. We have got to do something as a church to turn this around.

            As I thought about this situation I began to ask others what they thought the reason for our young people leaving was. The most common answer from most people was, “they are not getting any Bible teaching at home”. Now at first this convinced me. It does seem logical that the responsibility to train their children lies with the parents. But tell me, if this is the real reason, how will we ever hope to make any difference in the commitment to the church that our young people have? Can we hope to change the way all parents are raising their children? Yes, that would be ideal but is there really any practical expectation that we can make that happen? When I thought about my own life as a young person it doesn’t seem to be realistic that trying to get more Bible study into the lives of our young people through their parents is a realistic option at all. Of course we need to do what we can with that as well, but all of our young people do not come from religious families. I did not. Religion was seldom talked about in my house when I grew up. And with that in view, I asked myself, “how did I learn a commitment to the church of Christ that kept me committed and faithful all these years”? And the answer was, the church.

            I didn’t find the church until I was in my early teens. Some of my friends were members of the Maryville Church of Christ and they convinced me to go with them to church. I was so fortunate to be a part of that teenage group. And I was also fortunate to have had the Bible school teachers I had as well. This was during the 1950’s and it was common in the churches of Christ to hear Bible classes and sermons about doctrinal truths and differences in the Church of Christ to all the denominational churches all around us. When I heard these differences explained and compared to what the Bible had to say about the design of the church, I was convinced of the truth of the church just by the logical explanations I heard from the Bible teachers I had. This produced a commitment in me to the church of Christ that would never leave me as long as I lived. In fact, I dare say, that if I had ever stopped going to church my understanding and conscious would never have allowed me to get involved with a counterfeit denominational church. I understood very well the differences in the church and the denominational world around us.

            Now that was my story. Am I that much different from the teenagers of today?

            I thought about my own story as I studied why we were losing our young people today.

            But I asked other questions as well. I have encountered several people that I know who used to be regular members at congregations where I attended. These people have left the church and are attending denominational churches. In 3 cases I asked them point blank, “how can you join yourself to a denominational church after all the time you spent in the church of Christ”? And in all cases the answer was the same. “I didn’t see that much difference”.

            Brothers and sisters, how can that be? How can a person spend time in our Bible classes and hear our preachers every Sunday and say that they can see no difference in the church of Christ and a denominational church? Does that sound unbelievable? And yet, trust me, I have talked to other members who have had similar answers from members who have joined denominational churches and it is very common to hear them say, “I did not see much difference”.

            Now what does this have to do with our young people leaving the church? Well, I think I know the reason and I think we can help to prevent it.

            The reason is the method we are using to teach the young people in our Bible classes. Think about this for just a minute. When our children are very young and entering Bible class at church for the first time, we tell them Bible stories out of the Old Testament. This is good and appropriate. It holds their interest and they can understand these stories. Now these stories are easy to teach and the teachers, who are not professional teachers, can handle this style very well. Now this Old Testament study of the Bible continues as these students mature. As they get older it becomes Old Testament history and we tell them about the Old Testament characters and the stories of the kings and the great men of the Old Testament and this usually continues to the start of the high school class. Now up to this point they have heard nothing that they would not hear in a denominational church.

            Just prior to the high school class and during this class we start giving them lessons about salvation and baptism and what is required to be a Christian. All of this makes sense to fit the information they receive to what they are ready and able to understand. However, during these High School years, in order to develop a commitment to the doctrines of the church of Christ, there must be teaching about the beginning of the church of Christ and the differences to the denominational churches all around us. Before these teenagers graduate from High School and leave for college they must understand that the church of Christ is different and not at all like the other religions around us. Unless we do this before these high school students graduate, and build a strong commitment to the church of Christ, they could get involved with a denominational church and say, “I didn’t see that much difference”.

            We must not let that happen. We want these young people to clearly see and to celebrate that we are not like the “churches” around us. We are different and we are proud of the fact that we are different. Young people are so tempted and drawn to be “a part of the herd”. We must spend time in our Bible classes teaching them the differences in the Church of Christ and the denominations around them. Do not hesitate to teach it thorough and teach it plain.

Carl O. Cooper