Like most who work with young people and families in churches, I’m reading, thinking, and theorizing a lot right now about the alarming rate at which young people leave the church after high school (recent studies put the rate upwards of 50% across evangelical denominations). If you’re a parent or church leader and haven’t read Sticky Faith, Real World Parents, and You Lost Me (just to name a few front-runners), you need to do so immediately.
The question that is nagging at me is this: What if the problem is not just about educational philosophy, program design, or church structure…what if it’s about a foundational misrepresentation of the Christian faith?
Christianity, at its core is a mystic religion. Simply put, this means it hinges on supernatural powers and realities. We believe in a God who is entirely “other” than we are. We believe that, by means we cannot fully understand, we are able to participate in the death, burial, and resurrection of God’s son Jesus. I doing this, our sins are canceled, we partner in God’s redemptive work on earth, and we anticipate being with God forever in a place we cannot fully describe or understand. We believe in the presence of evil, particularly as conducted by Satan (a spiritual being) and those forces working alongside him. We believe that we are given power and direction for navigating this life by the indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit. This (although a very simplistic representation of the whole) is a mystical set of beliefs and it is the foundation that all of our rules, practices, and principles rest upon.
Enter the Enlightenment, Scientific Method, Rationalism, and The Industrial Revolution. Over the course of the last few centuries, western Christianity has tried to frame itself as a rational religion. Very simply put, his means we focus on finding answers to supernatural phenomena and we value individual responsibility and work ethic.
This collision of world-views has created what I believe is a faith-based case of cognitive dissonance – the painful psychological state we find ourselves in when our beliefs and realities to do not match. Unfortunately, we’ve been trying so hard for so long to rationalize Christianity that we are blind to the problem. We are so far removed from a mystical understanding of our faith that it doesn’t occur to us to think about this as a gap in what we’re passing on to the next generations.
Now, enter generations Y and iY (labels for those born since 1980). These folks show up at church with a postmodern, post-Christian worldview. They don’t feel obligated to accept propositional truth just because the preacher tells them to. They distrust anyone that claims to have the answer. For these people, a rationalized depiction of a mystical religion just doesn’t feel right. Perhaps they cannot put their finger on exactly why that is. Perhaps they don’t have a robust enough theology to explain their discomfort, but it’s very real. And for this generation, it’s enough to cause them to look outside the church for something that seems more real.
What if Christian faith is exactly what they’re looking for, but the modern, Western church isn’t the place to find it?
What if the problem isn’t that they don’t want Christianity, but that they don’t resonate a rationalized version of God’s mystical work in redeeming our world?
What if they SHOULD be leaving the church because the church has reduced the mystical power and nature of God to a set of principles and formulas, which frankly, aren’t that compelling?
What if GOD is leading them out of the church, not to kill the church, but to reform and reshape her – to call her back to faithfully witnessing to the mystical, unfathomable, holy nature of the tri-une God?
Note: These are questions that are ruminating in my mind. They are speculations. I do not claim to be the one person that has solved the riddle of young people leaving the church. I am confident that the issue defies any one explanation and certainly any one blog post. I do see some connection here though. Please feel free to add your thoughts to the conversation.
I sure hope so!
Adam,
This is why I am grateful for Thomas Aquinas who said there are two types of knowledge rational knowledge (Westernized, pragmatic, systematic) and intuitive knowledge *mystical, emotional, gut). It’s why he originated that the life is one of action and contemplation, prayer and service.
Studies are showing that most people stop going to church after they graduate high school (but then return once they have kids), but my generation, the millenials, is not doing that (at least it seems).I think you are right on in the fact that we haven’t accommodated a more mystical Christianity. Maybe, this is why people hop towards a more universal approach to spirituality and God. We could do better work in teaching people contemplation and practicing the Eucharist with one another.
Great thoughts.
Thanks for sharing that, Mike. I think there’s something to the idea that people are gravitating toward a more universal approach. Preachers seem to want to blame it on Oprah for popularizing the concept of being “spiritual, not religious), but I wonder if she just managed to touch a nerve that was already raw for a lot of people. Specifically, I think for many younger seekers, Christianity that is over-rationalized creates a craving for something that they intuit (thank you, Thomas Aquinas) should be there, but is lacking. Blessings, my friend.
It’s really true that there is nothing new under the sun. In fact the old and new testaments in the Bible speaks to the spiritual relationship that we have with God, wisdom, folly, Holy Spirit and Christ himself. James lets us know the pure religion is visiting the widows and orphans in there affliction. The lack of this ‘religion’ service may be another part of the puzzle of why young people leave the church, not just today, but in my generation also (the 65-70′s). The world will also seem to have the answers for the most popular phase of each generation. As humans we constantly look for the supernatural and fail to seek the simplicity of fortified human relationships in family, friends, Christian brothers and sisters, God and beyond. As Christians we hide the true nature of human pain and show a face of everything is alright until the white elephant in the room can no longer be ignored. I believe this is why so many young people leave the church and seek other influences in life. We must teach our young people that God has always been and always will be supernatural. However, God pleads with humanity to get to know him (Jeremiah 9:23-24). Our problem as adults, as well as, young people is that we fail to get to know God in a practical sense and believe that we can know him in an intimate spiritual sense without establishing a basic foundation in our relationship with Him. I believe that our young people of the 80′s and present our looking for a sense of purpose, why am I on earth, why should I be in the assembly of God on Sundays, Bible Classes, who and where does God exist. This is the same question that permeates the minds of most if not all humanity. The world and the forces of Satan will continue to draw upon the weaknesses of humans in order to draw them away from a solid relationship with God. The wonderful reality is that God can be experienced in church assembly, nature, the Bible, relationships and the list is endless. It is imperative that we let our young people know that we can get to know God and his power in the practical and spiritual realities in life and still develop our spiritual selves.
Good thoughts Son. Being spiritual is a lot less threatening to the world than being a Christian. I had one of Grandma’s friends ask me in a less that positive way “your not one of those born agains are you?” When I said yes I am – you would have thought that I had three heads. I am not young, Grandma’s friend is not young – what I saw was it is not OK to be that far off the range and be a Christian. It’s too in your face and not explainable in any rational way – it’s the mystery of our faith. For years the church has tried to dilute it’s potency, it’s pure simple belief in a risen savior, it’s unquestionable belief in Father,Son, and Holy Spirit as one merciful God. We have acted as if we are embarrassed by our God. We have cloaked our belief in things like “spiritual” or “inclusive” so much that we have confused the message for our young people. Really – did you have a moments doubt all those years on the JOY bus that Jesus wasn’t real or that you wouldn’t go to heaven? When the church acts like it needs a savior and speaks the words just as it is written in our holy book our message is pure and unambiguous. When we try and take the great commission and make it palatable for world we lose the message and unfortunately many of our young ones.
I think you’re asking great questions!
There is so much fear that teens leaving the church are missing out on the only opportunity to learn Truth and practice faithful community. We forget that God is everywhere else too. I’ve talked with so many that needed to step away to gain a little perspective and truly seek God in a way they weren’t taught to. I understand the fear of parents and church leaders. I also understand that God is so much bigger than those fears and he can pluck anyone from their apathy, walk hand in hand with anyone through their questions, and restore anyone who is searching – and those who aren’t.
As a teen, I somehow got the message that church/relationship with God wasn’t about feeling, but about discipline, simple acceptance, and obedience. While those do ring true, God moves me. He gave me my feelings and the desire to be experiential and mystic as you described so well. Faith is a living, breathing thing, and our job (as mentors, pastors, parents) is to help the kids in our lives navigate that.
Love your heart, Adam!!