Why Are
the World's
Young
Adults Leaving Churches?
By Pastor
Paul J. Bern
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Someone
asked my opinion earlier this week about why so many millennial's are
leaving church, and what can be done about it. After doing some
reflection, prayer and meditating, and based on some personal
observations, there are quite a few reasons why this is so. To begin
with, the fact of the matter is that young Christians often feel
forced to choose between their logic and their faith, between
evolution and Creation, and between compassion and piety, as if they
are mutually exclusive of each other. Meaning, churches who are
losing members do so due to politics and religion undergoing a merger
while missing any semblance of the awesome power of the crucifixion,
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This attitude dates all the
way back to the time of Christ, when the temple high priests and the
Hebrew religious establishment of that time were expecting the Jewish
Messiah to arrive as a conqueror who would set up his Kingdom in
Jerusalem – in opposition to the Roman Empire, echoing the “patriot
movement” of today – and rule the entire world. That day is
coming, but not on those terms, until all the Scriptures have been
fulfilled. Jesus said about such people, “Woe to you, Pharisees,
because you give a tenth of your mint, rue and all kinds of garden
herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have
practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” (Luke
11: 42) God is running out of patience with those who “tithe”
weekly while doing nothing for the less fortunate!
A
second and equally noteworthy reason that churches are losing
America's young professionals is that young adults perceive
evangelical Christianity to be either too political, too exclusive,
too old-fashioned to the point of being and thinking backwards, too
unconcerned with social justice and hostile to liberal, progressive,
environmentalist and LGBTQ people, among others. Most of all, I have
met modern Christians who refuse to congregate and worship with
anyone other than their own race. Rev. Dr. King said it best back in
the 1960's when he stated, “The most segregated place in America is
at church on Sunday morning”. To a large extent, this has not
changed much over the last 50 years or so. Does organized religion
think that young adults don't see this for the hypocrisy that it is?
Who, after all these decades, still does not understand that there
will be no bigots in heaven??
A third
reason that some well-established churches are driving millennial's
and young adults away is the time-honored yet non-scriptural
tradition of abstinence from alcoholic beverages. There are at least
a few well-known Christian denominations – which I will decline to
name – who “teach” that abstinence from alcohol is essential to
salvation in Christ. But they have forgotten all about the twin facts
concerning this subject; the first is that Jesus' first miracle was
changing water into wine, and the second is that there were at least
two glasses of wine – and probably more – that were served at the
Last Supper on the night before he was crucified. Even the apostle
Paul advised Timothy, “Stop drinking only water, and use a
little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.”
(1st Timothy 5: 23) Earlier in this same book, Paul
advised, “For everything God created is good, and nothing is to
be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is
consecrated by the Word of God and prayer.” (Timothy 4: 4)
Since this includes the grapes that make the wine, Paul's teaching
also extends to other natural substances, like medical marijuana and
'polysyllabic' mushrooms, both of which are proven to treat or cure
bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, chronic alcoholism, seizures and
even certain forms of cancer. That's why America's young adults look
at the entire 'abstinence-is-godliness' issue and see it for the
spiritual BS that it truly is.
Then
there is another one of my pet peeves, that Old Testament-based
“teaching” about giving a tenth of your income each and every
week, otherwise known as tithing. It is based on two verses of
Scripture, the first from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse
22, which says, “Be sure and set aside a tenth of all that your
fields produce each year”. According to Scripture, tithing only
occurred on certain feast days; Passover, First Fruits, the Feast of
Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of
Tabernacles (see Leviticus 23, verses 4-44). But modern churches take
this much further than that. Their pastors, deacons and other elders
will use a well-known verse from the book of Malachi, the very last
book of the Old Testament. It reads as follows: “'Will a man rob
God? Yet you rob me'. But you ask, 'But how do we rob you?'. 'In
tithes and offerings. You are under a curse – the whole nation of
you – because you are robbing me'” (Malachi chapter three, verses
8-9).
Yet
the Bible tells us that the crucifixion, death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Law, as it is written,
“Do not think I have come to abolish the law and the
prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.”
(Matt. 5: 17). So when certain pastors quote from the Book of
Malachi, they are taking it out of context. Still, modern-day
preachers and evangelists use these verses to convince their
congregations to keep giving more money and other donations as if the
above verses were directed at the faithful. In reality, these
passages were severe admonishments from God, not towards members of
the Church, but rather directed at the leadership. Evidently there
was some embezzlement going on because the priests kept too much of
the offerings for themselves. This had nothing to do with the
offerings of the faithful, and it still doesn't!
The
evangelical obsession with sex can make Christian living seem like
little more than sticking to a list of rules. The world's young
adults long for faith communities in which they are safe asking tough
questions and wrestling with doubt. We are taught to abstain from sex
before marriage and not to commit adultery, yet all the while those
who teach this commit the same sins in secret, as if God doesn't know
what they are doing. These are the same people who condemn same-sex
marriage while committing their own immoral sexual behavior, such as
being addicted to pornography. According to statistics provided by
the National Council on Churches, combined with statistics from the
CDC right here in Atlanta, roughly one half of Christian men, and
about 40% of Christian women, are addicted to porn. That's why I'm
saying those who teach 'abstinence' are a bunch of hypocrites!
Time
and again, the assumption among Christian leaders is that the key to
drawing people in their twenties and thirties back to church is
simply to make a few style updates – edgier music, more casual
services, a coffee shop in the fellowship hall, a pastor who wears
skinny jeans, an updated Web site that includes online giving via
texting. But here’s the thing: Christians of all ages have highly
sensitive BS meters, and we’re turned off by anything that smacks
of consumerism. What millennial's really want from the church is not
a change in style but a change in substance, and much more of it. We
want an end to the culture wars. We want a truce between science and
faith. We want to be known for what we stand for, not what we are
against.
People
today want churches that emphasize an allegiance to the kingdom of
God over an allegiance to a single political party or a single
nation. We want to be challenged to live simply, care for the poor
and oppressed, pursue reconciliation, and become peacemakers. What
people today don't want are anti-abortion, “pro-life activists”
who happen to be war hawks who are anti-national-health-care. In
other words, they want authenticity, and millennial's aren't finding
it in the churches. Millennial's aren't leaving churches because they
don’t find the 'cool factor' there; they're leaving the church
because they don’t find Jesus there. Like every generation before
ours and so every generation after, deep down, we long for Jesus
Christ the Son of God and everything he brings, which is life
everlasting through his Holy Spirit! But I would encourage church
leaders eager to win back young adults to sit down and really talk
with them about what they’re looking for and what they would like
to contribute to a faith community. The immorality of fighting wars,
of extreme inequality, of the race-based drug wars while opiates are
legal, and caring for the fatherless, widows and orphans would be
good places to start. The point is, we must all start somewhere, or
we will all end up nowhere. Better get going....
