According to research by Ed Stetzer’s group Lifeway, 70% of teenage church-going Protestants have stopped attending church by age 23.
Top 10 Reasons:
- They simply want a break from church (27%);
- They felt church members are judgmental and/or hypocritical (26%);
- They moved to college and didn’t find another church (25%);
- They have work responsibilities that keep them from attending (23%);
- They moved too far from church (22%);
- They just got too busy, even though they’d still like to attend (22%);
- They didn’t feel connected to the church in the first place (20%);
- They disagreed with the church’s political/social stance (18%);
- They decided to spend more time with friends (17%);
- They were just going to church to please their parents (17%).
Read the press release here.
Read the USA Today story here.
With so many competitors of the church nowadays, young people won’t really love to go to church. For them playing video games and doing gimmicks are more fun.
This is a matter of cultural evolution where people’s mindset becomes different. And this is a huge challenge to our churches.
How in the world can we ever invite them to come back?
Some churches already applied unbiblical ways where another problem emerged.