Yesterday at shift we heard the following two statement:

“teens are walking away form the church”

“Are two thirds of students leaving the church when they get to college?  The data has been abused quite a bit, students are leaving the organized church but they are not leaving Christianity.” David Kinniman

In Student Ministry we have been challenged with this whole idea that we are not doing a very good job at keeping students once they get into college.  The harsh reality is that they have become frustrated with the church not being the church.  People are rejecting Christians because they are not living up to what the Bible says we should be doing.  In light of Dan Kimballs book, They Like Jesus but Not the Church.  The other side of this that David brought to the table is that there is an increasing secularism that has continued over the last several generations.  In the 1960’s only about 4%of teens would have considered themselves either athiest or agnostic and today that number has grown to 19%.

It is not that we are doing the wrong things or that we have fallen short of what God desires.  It is simply that our world has changed and we need to find some ways to reach this generation that is becoming increasingly more prodigal than any genreation before.

How do you feel about this?  Do you think that there is a way for us to impact students for change?  If so, please post a comment and let’s share in this conversation.