Life Stages and Spiritual Interest
18 September 2006 by Gil
Some interesting research from the Barna Group has just come out that suggests that the twenties and thirties are often years when people disengage from the church and faith. This is interesting given the fact that the teenage years are those in which people are most spiritually active. According to Barna fully 61% of young adults in American have had some exposure to the church during their teenage years but have since walked away and would consider themselves ’spiritually disengaged’ as opposed to the 20% who are still spiritually active at age 29).
The author raises the quesiton of whether or not this is a normal ‘life-stage’ that people go through as they move from adolesence to adulthood or whether this is something that is unique to this point and time and this particular generation. Is this a natural progression as people learn to be self-sufficient and reject the ‘dependencies’ of their youth. The concluding question, the one I find most interesting is: What will make for a sustainable faith?
This is an age group of people that I work with on a daily basis and I am very interested in students finding in the Christian faith something that will sustain them throughout their lives, not just as young adults. So what’s missing? Why the disconnect? If the research is correct it seems like youth and old age are the two stages of life that demonstrate the most ’spiritual interest’. That leaves a fairly large chunk in the middle along with some significant unanswered questions.
I wonder if our transient generation has caused this shift. I look to my in-laws who live in the same town they grew up in, and see their faith community as one that remained stable from teenage years right through adulthood.
On the flip side our generation is much more on the move, and I wonder whether the split from a church-going friendship group does to the average believer.
Case in point, my friendship group in high school met weekly for prayer breakfasts. Yet few follow the Lord in what some might call a “meaningful” way now. Why is that? Our friendship group split off, there were squabbles, and thus the support system failed. After the disconnect (whether it’s due to leaving a church, moving etc) getting connected later in life into an often already established faith community becomes increasingly difficult (a.k.a - finding a home church in Winnipeg), and so the “been there, done that” mentality pervades.
Perhaps I’m off the mark (wouldn’t be the first time). Just one experience of many I realize.
Thanks Sabrina (it sounds like Sabrina at least) I think that the mobility of people within this age bracket has to have something to do with these statistics. There’s no longer the sense that there are established roles that we are expected to fill, we use early adulthood to ‘find ourselves’ and construct some kind of a personal identity. Why that identity often doesn’t include the faith we embraced as teenagers remains an open question.
I think the fact that we, for the most part, do this with minimal commitment to the communities and structures that provided guidance may have something to do with it as well.
You know I was going to weigh in here, Gil.
That this 20 something crowd has vacated the church in droves should concern us. Even if sociological dynamics of development are such that there is a predisposition to disengagement, it is our more damning folly to simply accept this disengagement as in any way a good way to develop sustainable faith.
I think at issue are two basic components:
1. The visual and experiential expressions of ‘church’ that we currently practice successfully entrench age appropriate ministry as being the most desirable methodology for churches. In reality this seemingly caring attitude toward specialized ministry to specific demographic strata actually is the breeding ground for disengagement. Youth group tends, in most churches, to function so differently that students find little recognizable about the format and structure of ‘adult’ church they are asked to connect to. It is also plainly evident that in most cases, while some superficial nods are given to actual participation on the part of children and youth, adults hold most of the ‘important’ roles within church structure and expression. Most I attribute this to a pervasive ethos of greed within churches where the main focus of the individual in evaluating a church is whether or not it can meet ‘my’ perceived needs or wants. And in case you were wondering I don’t believe that children and youth need to be handed over the reigns of church function.
2. “If something meaningful were happening in church – we’d be there” – paraphrase of Reg Bibby’s thoughts in his latest book. I believe that young adults are not disengaging from deeply spiritual activity (Bibby’s work supports that). They are however disconnecting from conventional forms of spiritual expression. Activism of any sort is up among this demographic. If faith is to be a sustaining force for young adults, churches must consider that instead of meeting the needs of its congregants it will need to supply them with a mission/mandate/purpose that is worth their investment. Fortunately the redemption of the world through the realization of the Kingdom of God is exactly the kind of gospel young people need to be taught. Unfortunately, the ‘church’ has preferred to offer a wimped out version of the gospel that is merely interested in self preservation (at best).
I realize that is a far too simplified position that equates church and faith absolutely. Yet it is my contention that they are inextricably tied to each other. At the core I believe that all of this requires a categorical shift in the focal points of theological discussion. That is trust you, my friend, are not shrinking from…
hmmm i don’t know if any of you guys find my posts useful, but i post mainly for my own benefit rather than yours. so until you ban me…
i think in the discussion of why younger people are leaving church is interesting because i am in that crowd. i think the focus on what the church is doing wrong is somewhat helpful but not the real issue. i don’t think its because the church is dumbing down the gospel or that church is presenting specialized formats to different age groups. this maybe problems in a particular church for sure. but there are many churches out there. and if a church started participating in a these sort of strategies than it is quite probable their attendance would go down.
…. but i think that if these 20 and 30 somethings actually had acheived a flourishing christian life they would find a church they could go to. they would find other christians who were of like mind and join them in worship. there has to be churches out there who are not presenting a so-called dumbed down gospel and relying to heavy on media presentations. why aren’t those churches growing at a rapid pace and leaving these other churches in their wake? why do these 20 and 30 year olds end up being spiritually disengaged. i think the problem is more in the brand of christianity that is being sold these days. i don’t think it is living up to its slogan’s of a personal relationship with jesus christ and a more fulfilled life. but i think i have said that before.
hey jc
am i to understand that you have left the church?
if so why have you not started your own church. it sounds to me that you care alot about faith issues so i am wondering about the disconnect (if you that is what you’ve done)
not a call out just wondering
So the three options on the table are:
1) The transcience and rootlessness of this generation has led to disengagement in all areas of life.
2)The church has failed to provide a meaningful experience of God by catering to demographic interests and the consumer mentality of churchgoers.
3)The problem is the product itself - Christianity has not been able to deliver on what it has promised.
re: #3 above, it seems to me that in some very important respects, the question of whether or not Christianity delivers what it promises cannot be answered adequately in this life. I suppose it depends on what we think Christianity promises - if we think that Christianity ought to make our lives more enjoyable and help us feel better about ourselves, then it may not deliver the goods. Or, as jc has alluded to, if we are taught to expect a specific kind of ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ (usually, as far as I can tell, having to do with expecting certain kinds of emotions and experiences), then false senses of expectation can arise.
Speaking personally, what I ‘expect’ from the ‘product’ of Christianity is that evil and suffering will be ultimately eradicated, and a new era of peace and harmony (shalom?) will be ushered in. I expect that some (not all) of my intuitions regarding what life ought to look like will be validated. To borrow the language of C.S. Lewis, I expect that the longings which I find cannot be satisfied in this world will be satisfied in another. If these are at least partial expressions of the criteria, then I can’t fully evaluate how well Christianity ‘delivers’ until the next life when these intuitions will either be vindicated or exposed as illusions.
It’s Sabrina here again…
As the options are laid out on the table I’d like to ponder the second point.
2)The church has failed to provide a meaningful experience of God by catering to demographic interests and the consumer mentality of churchgoers.
Perhaps we are shirking responsibility here. Was it Meic Pearse who pointed that we, as Westerners tend to lay blame for problems on external institutions (such as the government, church etc)? Forgive me if I have the author wrong.
Regardless, if we say that “the church” has failed to provide a meaningful experience, and we are to be the church (or body), then it perhaps is US who just maybe have neglected to search out the meaningful experience we desire.
With that said, I’ll throw on the table for discussion the decline in work ethic that my generation possesses. Perhaps we want the “experience” without the actual effort it requires, and take off when our half-hearted attempts to achieve meaningful experiences don’t pan out.
incoming,
this question probably deserves better treatment that i am going to give in this post. i don’t really want to go into all of the issues i have with christianity. but yes i have not been to church since jan 06. but for me the crux of the issue is that i came to realization that i was following an idea of christianity that did not seem to be based in reality. i was under the impression that christianity offered a personal relationship with God or at least communication with him. i tried to establish that communication by praying, reading the bible, participating in street missions, and going to church. i can’t say that in my life i have ever experienced God directly. i have come to the position now that if i can’t experience or communicate with God then christianity as i know it and as the church seems to present it does not stand. i am in a circle of friends who have been leaving the church as well over the past few years with similar issues. like i said this is not the only issue i have with christianity. but i think all of my other issues would be easier to resolve if there were it possible for me to have a direct relationship with God.
… i am interested in christianity and philosophy mainly because i am interested in the truth but i also want christianity to be true. i would rather my consciousness did not end with my death and would rather that my life had meaning. so i frequent this blog and read donald miller books in the hopes i can figure out how i am wrong. ayn rand is making more since to me right now than christianity. there that’s my bio.
Sabrina,
I think you make a very good point. The discussion so far has focused on the question of what is wrong with either the church or Christian faith as its been presented. You raise the possibility of us (this generation) bearing some of the responsibility as well.
I want to be careful not to blame anyone whose experience of God is less than they’d hoped for but I think you raise some a valid point regarding the expectation that many of us have that anything worth having should be immediately accessible and require minimal effort.
I would add that this is a generation characterized by a strong suspicion of and resistance to authority (some of that suspicion is well justified) and this makes it less likely to find the moral imperatives of any belief system all that attractive.
Ryan,
I think you’re right in saying that the ultimate ‘benefit’ of Christianity (restored shalom) is something that will not be verified in this life. But I also wonder about what we can expect or hope for in this life. Christian eschatology is often criticized for deferring everything until ‘the end’ and making us functionally useless (and potentially disillusioned) in the present. Any thoughts?
1. thanks jc for the honesty. your words are unfortunately too familiar for me (i have other friends who have said the same thing). One of my contentions is that the church has presented faith in God with some ill-conceived notions that we build our expectation of God around. what i hear in your words is a basic hope in the larger spiritual reality of the human experience.
we have been told that the essence of faith is about how it benefits us. could it be that faith might have almost nothing to do with our own benefit either now or after life? could it be more about what we give than what we recieve?
I think it’s always dangerous to attach ALL of the significance of Christian life to the “back end,” so to speak, and it certainly can make (and has made) Christians ‘functionally useless’ throughout the history of the church.
I would say that it is possible to have that vision of shalom in the next life firmly in view, while at the same time doing one’s best to make it a reality in the present - in fact I think it our Christian obligation to do so. Part of our role as Christ’s church is to be a microcosm of what will one day be a cosmic reality.
My concern has to do with making certain experiences normative or defnitive of what it means to be a Christian - I’m not sure we should or even can say that someone should experience x or y here and now if they have truly believed and obeyed the Christian message. This is not to say that we shouldn’t expect character changes (eg. the fruit of the Spirit); however this is more a matter of obedience and has less to do with some of the affective emotional states that we are sometimes led to believe ought to be experienced by all believers.
I think often of Jesus’ words to Thomas after the resurrection: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” (John 20:29) Perhaps I am guilty of extending these words too far, but I think they speak to the fact that the truth of Christ will not always be obvious, and will not always result in momentous change in our lives here and now. Sometimes it will be (and is) hard to believe; sometimes a life of faith will be more difficult than one without it. Sometimes we will not ’see,’ but we are still called to believe and obey.
Hey Jc, thanks also for the sincerity of your last post.
In the Catholic expression of Christianity the potentials and experiences of a mystic personal relationship, experienced directly with God, are affirmed, worshipped and revered.
I think it is important for the seeker, that in order for him to enter into this type of relationship, he engage with a spiritual culture that beleives and affirms this type of relationship.
Because I think it will help you find what you are looking for I would invite you to go to a Catholic church near you, but only one that contains the “Blessed Sacrament” within the confines of an adoration chapel.
Ask the parish priest about the chapel. Ask him who we say is there. Talk to brothers and sisters you find who visit this place and ask them who they encounter. And finally, my friend, open your heart to the possibility that you are in the presence of the son of God and through Him, the Trinity.
Speak as a brother and as son in desperate need of a direct, open and loving relationship with his Brother and his Father and not as a potential believer seeking proofs.
Cry out to the Lord your God and your voice will be heard.
Love Always,
Paul
With regret, I no longer feel comfortable participating in dialogues on this cite.
Peace Always,
Paul