Spiritual Engagement at Home and at Church

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post: Leadership Book Interview with Drew Dyck

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ES: But many people leave the faith in every generation, and then return when they're older. Won't today's young people come back too?

DD: I would love to believe that there will be an automatic return. Unfortunately there are factors that I believe make this generation different.

First, young adults today are dropping religion at a greater rate than young adults of yesteryear--"five to six times the historic rate," according to social scientists Robert Putnam and David Campbell.

Second, young adulthood is much longer than it used to be. Marriage, career, children--the primary sociological forces that drive adults back to religious commitment--are now delayed until the late 20s, even into the 30s. Returning to the fold after a two- or three-year hiatus is one thing; coming back after more than a decade absence is considerably more unlikely.

Third, I believe there's been a tectonic shift the broader culture. Past generations may have rebelled for a season, but they still inhabited a predominantly Judeo-Christian culture. But for those reared in pluralistic, post-Christian America, the cultural gravity back to the back to the faith has weakened.

ES: Has the church played a role in causing this trend?

DD: I think we've let business thinking have too large an impact on ministry philosophy, especially our approach to youth ministry. For many churches, the primary goal has become attracting large numbers of kids and keeping them entertained. As a result, today many youth ministries are practically devoid of any spiritual engagement. As you've described them, they become little more than "holding tanks with pizza." Some have been reduced to using violent video game parties to lure students through their church doors on friday nights. There's nothing wrong with video games and pizza, but they're tragic replacements for discipleship and catechism. Many young people have been exposed to a superficial form of Christianity that effectively inoculates them against authentic faith. To stem the tide of young people leaving, I believe churches need to shift the emphasis away from an entertainment model and back to religious education and spiritual growth. Fortunately, there's evidence that this is already beginning to happen. My friends in youth ministry are acutely aware of the problem and changing the way the church relates to the younger generation.

ES: What role do you think the broader culture plays?

DD: A lot of Christians fear the corrupting influence of "the world," the culture outside the church. But when it comes to the spiritual plight of young people, what happens inside the church and home seem to matter most. We've seen this from the research of Christian Smith, and it was largely true of the people I interviewed. Even for those lured away by materialist worldviews or alternative spiritualities, this was true. Their deconversions were precipitated by what happened inside rather than outside the church. In other words, it was more push than pull, which is almost always the case with deconversion. I think that's fascinating and should affect the way Christians approach this issue. Christian parents, for instance, should probably worry less about the influence of their children's peers or the media, and focus on the level of spiritual engagement in the home and at church.

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