Why do young people leave the Christian faith in which they have been reared? Drew Dyck has done an excellent job of researching this question in Generation Ex-Christian: Why Young Adults Are Leaving the Faith… and How To Bring Them Back (Moody Press, 2010)

He classifies his subjects into six groups. His first is the Post-Modern Leavers who have rejected rational apologetics, or arguments that depend upon evidence for the faith. They have lost confidence in an absolute truth, and see reality to be pluralistic. Subjective experience is more important to them. They are more impressed by the authenticity of your life than your talk. They are repelled by exclusivity or dogmatism, and attracted to compassionate service.

His second group is the Recoilers who have left Christianity because they have been hurt by those who have professed to be Christians. Traumatic psychological or emotional experiences, or abuse, in childhood result in not trusting God. They hold God responsible for what was done to them by his people. The only way to reach them is through empathetic relationships.

His third group is what he calls the Modern Leavers. These are the skeptics, who have swallowed the rationalistic approach of the New Atheists, who reject anything supernatural. They can only be approached by taking seriously their questions and discussing their world views at a philosophical level. They can be challenged on the meaninglessness of their perspective. Doubt needs to be addressed. Obstacles to faith can be removed. Life cannot be entirely explained by physics.

His fourth group is the Neo-Pagans. These are those who have opted for a naturalistic religion. It is as old as Wiccan and as new as environmentalism. Christianity is attacked because it is not earth-centered, but sees humans as the crown of creation. They want us to care for nature and value its sense of the sacred. They extol the feminine and are critical of how churches have oppressed women. They can only be approached with much prayer and sensitivity.

His fifth group is the Rebels. These are Christians who have rebelled against the lifestyle of their families simply because they wanted to have a good time. They kicked over the traces and sowed their wild oats. They became addicted to the good time, to parties, to a hedonistic lifestyle. Many got involved in drinking and drugs. All too often their youth groups entertained them at church rather than presenting them with a challenging gospel. They need to be confronted with the claims of Christ by people who love them and have proven that love by not giving up on them over the years.

His last group he calls the Drifters. They grew up in the church but were never deeply converted or committed. They are apathetic and indifferent. They still consider themselves Christians but in name only. They go with the flow of their social group. They need to be welcomed and invited to church again where they will be exposed to the challenges of Christ.  

Dyck has raised an issue that churches need to be aware of as they seek to reach the next generation. This is an important, well-written and researched book.

Sylvia Walsh is Scholar in Residence at Stetson University. She has written perceptively about Christianity from the point of view of the works of Soren Kierkegaard. I find her comments bracing and challenging. Imagine having her in your congregation critiquing your sermons! She puts her fingers on some of the problems with preaching to the perceived felt needs of the congregation. Easy believism is one of the curses of Christianity. It is all too common for us preachers to bind up the wounds of our hearers with snake oil and other quack medicine and not apply the surgical remedies of the gospel of Christ. Popularity and success in this life are too often preferred to faithfulness to the truth of the Gospel. Here are some of her comments in Living Christianly, Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005.

“Part of the problem of human beings is that they do not know wherein their true sickness, real misfortune, and greatest danger in life lies. They generally associate these situations with earthly afflictions, whereas the true Christian has come to recognize and fear sin as a far greater danger, in comparison to which the other misfortunes of finite existence count as nothing….. People turn to Christianity looking for solace and a reversal of their temporal misfortunes; Christian preaching presents the gospel to them precisely in this vein and reinforces their misconceptions; and the notion of the forgiveness of sin is superficially incorporated into this inverted framework and interpreted to include not only forgiveness but the memory of forgiveness. The result is that forgiveness too is misunderstood and taken in vain.” (p.20)

“Christianity has to do primarily with sin and the forgiveness of sin, that it makes sin the most terrifying thing in life and then proposes to do away with sin through forgiveness. However, Kierkegaard believes most people turn to Christianity for quite different reasons. They are Christians because in Christendom it pays to be one; or if they have experienced a degree of adversity in life, they look to Christianity as a source of comfort and alleviation for their temporal suffering and worldly misfortunes in hopes that in the future their lot in life will be happier and more successful. They come to Christianity, therefore, for quite selfish reasons, not from remorse over sin or for the forgiveness of sin, and they confuse the truly gentle, loving and compassionate nature of Christianity with the alleviation of their earthly distress and the promise of good fortune. This misconception and misuse of Christianity is reinforced by the clergy in that sin, faith, grace, and forgiveness are often preached in the same breath with reassurances about temporal misfortune and good fortune, as if Christianity were primarily concerned with these matters of life.” (p.48)

“The immediate or natural human being seeks to enjoy life, to acquire its goods, and to receive God’s help is securing them. But this is precisely what constitutes worldliness….Kierkegaard defines worldliness essentially as the desire to acquire honor and esteem in the world, to seek to be ‘on top’ or to succeed in the world, to want to possess those things that the world assumes every person should want to possess. Christianity’s attitude is diametrically the opposite of this. It holds that it is more blessed to do without than to get, to suffer than to enjoy life, to lose rather than win in the world. Its concepts of life, honor, and value are just the converse of those held by the world…. Human beings want to use Christianity to help them live in the world and to enjoy life, to have its consolation for misfortunes and misery and its assurance of a brighter future. Thus they remain essentially attached to the world.” (p.92)

“The tendency to turn religion into a feel-good form of aesthetic entertainment that reflects and reinforces the basic values and goals of secular society rather than critiquing them from the standpoint of a higher spiritual ideal is perhaps greater and more predominant now than in Kierkegaard’s time. In suggesting that the Christian way of life, like the way of Christ, is constantly to work against oneself in the world by becoming lowly rather than exalted, poor rather than rich, giving rather than receiving, losing rather than succeeding, loving rather than seeking to be loved, consoling rather than being consoled, and accepting new suffering rather than being relieved of the old, Kierkegaard undoubtedly presents a demanding and difficult Christian ethic that runs counter to ordinary human desires, values, and goals in life.” (p.162)