Why We Are Losing Our Christian Youth: It's More Our Fault Than We Realize

The Christian Post reports, "Young Americans today are more skeptical and resistant to Christianity than were people of the same age just a decade ago. A new study released Monday from The Barna Group shows that negative perceptions toward the faith have outweighed the positive, as more younger Americans associate with a faith outside Christianity.

Only 16 percent of non-Christians aged 16 to 29 years old said they have a "good impression" of Christianity. Just 10 years ago, a vast majority of Americans outside the Christian faith - including young people - felt favorably toward Christianity's role in society."

There's a reason that this happens. As somebody who is called to youth ministry either as a full time job or as a volunteer, I have learned much about youth ministry and what makes faith an important part of young people's lives.

First of all, six to eight caring adults outside of the family are going to make a difference in keeping a young person in the Christian faith. It is a very rare thing to have this happen in churches nowadays. Most churches may have one or two youth leaders. Then, those churches are very fortunate to have parents that help if they do have them.

Sometimes this will increase the number of caring adults to six to eight. So, there is a lack of caring in any Christian community.

Then, even when there is caring, there is another problem. Churches are treated more like businesses than churches. People run them worrying about money and the building rather than ministry. The people there don't care about other people. This can easily be seen by the youth. They see what truly happens and while they may be taught different lessons in Sunday School, that isn't going to keep them in the faith. What is practiced is what is going to keep them in the faith.

Third, people do not treat the congregation like a family. Rather than acting like a family, people in the congregation start to form cliques like in a high school. They purposely make others outcast. They make families feel like they don't belong.