A new survey by the National
Center for Family Integrated Churches (NFCIS) declare that youth group is
the reason why young people are leaving the church, as reported in Charisma.
The article does not indicate how many people completed the survey and a quick
review of the three-question instrument reveals that no demographic data is
collected and the questions are skewed. Who completed the survey? How did they
find the link to the survey? What part of the country are they from? Why only
three questions? Why do the questions presuppose a certain answer? In essence,
the survey’s poor design renders the data meaningless.
I fear for our young people whose pastors read this report
and decide to act on it. I fear that a pastor will read Adam McManus’s comments
and take them seriously. Mr. McManus seems to have forgotten that Deuteronomy
6:4-7 is written principally to the Israelite Community and not parents; that
Proverbs is a group of wise saying, not promises.
Yes, our young people are leaving the church. There are a
number of contributing factors. Youth group might be a contributing factor in a
limited number of cases; it is not the enemy. Making youth ministry the
villain, as NCFIS does, is not helpful.
There is better research. There are more thoughtful
descriptions of why you young people are leaving the church. If you want to
begin understanding why young people are not in church and leaving the church,
I recommend that you watch Diana Butler Bass’s lecture at http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/diana-butler-bass-church.
In the meantime, if you pastor reads Charisma do the pastor and your youth group a favor and shred this
article before its read.
